A possible physiological role of milk epidermal growth factor in neonatal eyelid opening.
The eyelid opening of newborn mice occurs normally on day 13.9 +/- 1.8 after birth. When newborn mice were injected with anti-epidermal growth factor (EGF) antibody every other day starting on day 1 after birth, the eyelid opening was delayed by approximately 3 days. The effect of anti-EGF became less prominent as the treatment was started at later times: when it was given from day 7, no delay in eyelid opening was observed. On the other hand, eyelid opening was enhanced by approximately 3 days by EGF injection given on day 3 for every other day. This effect of EGF was antagonized by simultaneous administration of the anti-EGF antibody. EGF was present at a concentration of 6.6 ng/ml in the plasma of 1-wk-old pups nursed by their mother, but it was not detectable (less than 0.1 ng/ml) in the plasma of 3-wk-old weaned pups. EGF concentration in the submandibular glands, however, was 17 times greater in 3- than in 1-wk-old pups, i.e., 4.66 and 0.28 ng/mg of wet tissue, respectively. These results suggest that milk EGF may play a physiological role in eyelid opening during the neonatal period.
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn / Q000502:physiology*; D004815:Epidermal Growth Factor / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D005143:Eyelids / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D008892:Milk / Q000502:physiology*; D011817:Rabbits; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D013363:Submandibular Gland / Q000378:metabolism
D004815:Epidermal Growth Factor