Evidence for a trophic action of the glycoprotein hormone alpha-subunit in rat pituitary.
The effect of the alpha-subunit of luteinizing hormone (LH alpha) on lactotroph growth in 14-day-old rat pituitary was studied in vitro using a reaggregate pituitary cell culture system. LH alpha significantly expanded both the total population of cells expressing prolactin mRNA and the number of [3H]thymidine incorporating prolactin mRNA expressing cells. No such effect could be elicited by LH. Both effects were inhibited by simultaneous addition of an anti-LH alpha antiserum but not by normal rabbit serum. Anti-LH alpha antiserum added alone to the cultures caused a small decrease in the number of prolactin mRNA expressing cells and in [3H]thymidine labelling of the latter. It is concluded that LH alpha may be a trophic factor of lactotrophs not only during fetal development, as suggested by others previously, but also during the rapid expansion of this cell type during postnatal life in the rat.
Van Bael
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Laboratory of Cell Pharmacology, University of Leuven, Belgium.
Denef
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C
D000818:Animals; D001345:Autoradiography; D002449:Cell Aggregation / Q000187:drug effects; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D004261:DNA Replication / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D007986:Luteinizing Hormone / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D016612:Paraffin Embedding; D010902:Pituitary Gland / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D011388:Prolactin / Q000096:biosynthesis; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000096:biosynthesis; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013936:Thymidine / Q000378:metabolism
D012333:RNA, Messenger; D011388:Prolactin; D007986:Luteinizing Hormone; D013936:Thymidine