title: Interleukin-18 mRNA expression in the rat pituitary gland.
abstract: The present study investigated the expression of IL-18 mRNA under several stimuli, and molecular structures of IL-18 mRNA of the rat pituitary. Real-time PCR demonstrated that IL-18 mRNA, highly expressed in anterior pituitary, significantly increased following stress and adrenalectomy. In situ hybridization combined with immunohistochemistry demonstrated that corticotrope cells expressed IL-18 mRNA. RACE and sequence analysis demonstrated that pituitary IL-18 mRNA possesses five new exons at the upstream of exon 1 and between exon 1 and exon 2, indicating the preferential usage of promoter 1. The present study suggests that IL-18 in the corticotrope cells may play some roles in stress responses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Nippon Medical School 1-1-5 Sendagi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8602, Japan.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sugama
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Conti
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Teramoto
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shibasaki
mesh_terms: D000315:Adrenalectomy; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D020382:Interleukin-18 / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010902:Pituitary Gland / Q000378:metabolism*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D020382:Interleukin-18; D012333:RNA, Messenger