Expression of a Rho Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factor, Ect2, in the Developing Mouse Pituitary
| Autor: | Takahiro Tsuji, Mohammad Saharul Islam, Keita Koizumi, Haruhiro Higashida, Chiharu Higashida, M. Takahashi |
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| Rok vydání: | 2010 |
| Předmět: |
Male
Mice Inbred ICR Cell type medicine.medical_specialty Pituitary gland Endocrine and Autonomic Systems Endocrinology Diabetes and Metabolism Blotting Western GTPase Biology Mice Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience Endocrinology medicine.anatomical_structure Anterior pituitary Pituitary Gland Proto-Oncogene Proteins Internal medicine medicine Animals Guanine nucleotide exchange factor Mitosis Immunostaining Endocrine gland |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Neuroendocrinology. 22:477-482 |
| ISSN: | 1365-2826 0953-8194 |
| DOI: | 10.1111/j.1365-2826.2010.01962.x |
| Popis: | The pituitary gland is a highly mitotically active tissue after birth. Various cell types are known to undergo proliferation in the anterior pituitary. However, little is known about the mechanisms regulating mitotic activity in this tissue. When searching for genes specifically expressed in the pituitary gland among those that we previously screened in Drosophila, we found epithelial cell-transforming gene 2 (Ect2). Ect2 is a guanine nucleotide exchange factor for Rho GTPases, which is known to play an essential role in cytokinesis. Although there have been many cellular studies regarding the function of Ect2, the temporal and spatial expression patterns of Ect2 in vivo have not been determined. In the present study, we examined the postnatal developmental expression of Ect2 in the mouse pituitary. Enhanced Ect2 expression was detected in the mouse pituitary gland during the first 3 weeks after birth, which coincided well with the period of rapid pituitary expansion associated with increased growth rate. Immunostaining analysis showed that Ect2-expressing cells were distributed in the anterior and intermediate lobes, but not the posterior lobe, of the pituitary. These Ect2-expressing cells frequently incorporated the thymidine analogue, EdU (5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine), indicating that these cells were mitotically active. Taken together, the results demonstrate the functional role of Ect2 in postnatal proliferating cells in the two lobes of the pituitary, thereby suggesting roles in developmental growth of the mammalian pituitary. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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