Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Overexpression of Activin-βA Subunit mRNA Is Associated with Decreased Activin Type II Receptor mRNA Levels in the Testes of α-Inhibin Deficient Mice

1994; Elsevier BV; Volume: 203; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1006/bbrc.1994.2155

1090-2104

Vance L. Trudeau, Martin M. Matzuk, R.J.G. Hache, Leo P. Renaud,

Testicular diseases and treatments

Activins and inhibins are polypeptides of the transforming growth factor-β family that participate in differentiation and growth of diverse cell types, and are involved in endocrine/paracrine regulation of the hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal axis. Mice with α-inhibin subunit gene deletion develop large testicular tumors. In these animals, a 200-fold increase in testicular expression of activin βA subunit mRNA was detected using S1-nuclease protection analysis. Northern blot analysis demonstrated that a predominant mRNA form of approximately 6.5 kb and a second minor form of 4.5 kb were overexpressed in the testes of the α-inhibin deficient animals. Testicular expression of the type II activin receptor was decreased 3-fold in these mice. In contrast, hypothalamic βA and type II activin receptor mRNA levels remained unaltered. α-Inhibin may play a role to suppress the expression of PA mRNA in the mammalian testes. These results demonstrate that increased expression of activin is accompanied by a tissue specific reduction in the expression of its own receptor mRNA in vivo.