• Development and Reproduction
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.231-236
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• 2000

Recent studies have clearly shown that the expression of genes for gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) and its receptor in the rat reproductive organs including ovary, testis, placenta uterus and mammary gland. Moreover, luteinizing hormone (LH) classically known to be a main target product of GnRH in anterior pituitary has been found in rat gonads. These findings suggested the presence of local circuit composed of GnRH and LH in the rat gonads. The present study was undertaken to elucidate whether the genes for LH and its receptor are expressed in rat mammary gland. Expression of LH and its receptor genes in the rat mammary gland was demonstrated by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and specific LH radioimmunoassay (RIA). The LH${\beta}$ transcripts in the mammary gland from cycling rats contained the pituitary type of LH${\beta}$ exons 1~3 encoding the entire LH${\beta}$ polypeptide but lacked the rat testis-specific LH${\beta}$ exon(s). Presence of ${\alpha}$ -subunit transcripts in the rat mammary gland were determined by RT-PCR. The cDNA fragments encoding exons 2~7 of rat LH receptor transcripts were amplified in both rat ovary and mammary gland samples. We could detect the GnRH expression in mammary gland from cycling virgin rats, and this result disagreed with previous report that mammary GnRH expression is occured in lactating rats only. Considerable amounts of immunoreactive LH molecules with good RIA parallelism in standard curve were detected in crude extracts from the rat mammary gland, indicating that the immunoreactive LH materials in the gland might be identical to authentic pituitary LH. To our knowledge, the present study demonstrated for the first time the expression of LH subunits and LH receptor in the rat mammary gland. Our findings suggested that the mammary gland might be the novel source and target of LH and the mammary LH could be act as a local regulator with auto-and/or paracrine manner under the regulation of local GnRH.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.199-205
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• 1998

The present study was performed to analyze the expression of LH genes in the rat ovary. Expression of LH subunit genes in the rat ovary was demonstrated by amplification of ovarian RNA by RT-PCR. The ovarian $LH_\beta$ transcripts contained at least two parts of the published cDNA structure, the pituitary exons 1, 2 and 3 and the part of testicular ex on 1 in the major trancripts form in rat testis. Using RIA, significant amount of LH-like molecules were detected in crude ovarian extracts, and the competition curves with increasing amount of tissue extracts were parallel with those of standard peptide, indicating that the ovarian immunoreactive LH-like material is similar to authentic pituitary LH molecule. The administration of PMSG to immature rats resulted in a sharp decrease of the ovarian LH contents after 24 h post-injection. In conclusion, these findings demonstrate that genes for LH subunits are expressed in the rat ovary, and suggest that LH can playa central role in regulation of female reproduction with both endocrine (by pituitary LH) and auto- and/or para-crine (by ovarian LH) manner.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.157-161
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• 1999

Recent studies clearly demonstrated that the novel expression of LH gene in the rat testis, and suggested the local action of the LH-like molecule. The present study was performed to analyze the expression of LH genes in the rat accessory reproductive organs. Expression of LH subunit genes in the rat uterus and epididymis was demonstrated by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and specific LH radioimmunoassay (RIA). The $LH_{beta}$ transcripts in these organs contained the published cDNA structure, the pituitary type exons 1-3, which encoded the entire $LH_{beta}$ polypeptide. Presence of the transcripts for the ${\alpha}$-subunit in the rat reproductive tissues were also confirmed by RT-PCR. In the LH RIA, significant levels of LH were detected in crude extracts from the rat ovary, uterus and epididymis. The competition curves with increasing amount of tissue extracts were parallel with those of standard peptide, indicating that the immunoreactive LH-like materials in these tissues are similar to authentic pituitary LH molecule. In rat epididymis, the highest amount of immunoreactive LH was detected in corpus area. Our findings demonstrated that the genes for LH subunits are expressed in the rat accessory reproductive organs, and suggested that these extrapituitary LH may act as a local regulator with auto and/or paracrine manner.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.377-381
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• 1999

Objectives: Recent studies, including our own, demonstrated that the novel expression of LH gene in rat gonads and uterus, indicating that the local production and action of the LH-like molecule. In the present study, we investigated whether human uterus also expresses the LH gene. Design: Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) amplified the cDNA fragments coding $LH_{\beta}$ polypeptide from human endometrium but not from myometrium. Presence of the transcripts for the ${\alpha}$-subunit in human endometrium was also confirmed by RT-PCR. Results: Transcripts for $LH_{\beta}$ subunit were detected in endometrial samples from women with endometriosis. The gene for LH/hCG receptor was expressed in both endometrium and myometrium, showing good agreement with previous studies. Increased level of $LH_{\beta}$ transcript was determined in the endometrium from follicular phase compared to that from luteal phase. Conclusion: Taken together, our findings demonstrated that 1) the genes for LH subunits and LH/hCG receptor are expressed in human uterus, 2) the uterine LH expression was changed during menstrual cycle, suggesting that the uterine LH may playa local role in the control of uterine physiology and function(s).

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.383-387
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• 1999

Objective: There is increasing evidence for the expression of rat in gene in several extrapituitary sites including testis and ovary. We also have demonstrated that the local LH expression in the rat epididymis and uterus, the major accessory sex organs in male and female reproductive system, respectively. Design: The present study was undertaken to elucidate whether the gene for LH receptor is expressed in rat uterus and whether the expressions of uterine LH and its receptor are differentially regulated during estrous cycle. Presence of the transcripts for rat LH receptor in the rat uterine tissue were confirmed by touchdown reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Results: In $LH{\beta}$ semi-quantitative RT-PCR, the highest expression level was shown in estrus stage. The level of ill receptor transcripts was also fluctuated during estrous cycle. In ovariectomized rats (OVX + Oil), the expressions of both uterine LH and LH-R were markedly reduced when compared to those from normal rats. Supplement with estradiol $17{\beta}$ to the ovariectomized rats (OVX + $E_2$) restored the expression levels of LH and its receptor to the levels in uteri from normal rats. Conclusion: Our findings indicated that 1) LH and its receptor gene are expressed in the rat uterus from cycling rats, 2) the expression of uterine LH and its receptor is mainly, if not all, under the control of ovarian sex steroid(s). These results suggested that the uterine LH may act as a local regulator with auto and/or paracrine manner, though the posibility that the pituitary LH may act directly on the regulation of uterine functions could not be discarded.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.327-333
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• 2017

Gonadotropins are heterodimers consisting an alpha chain ($Cg{\alpha}$) and a beta chain. Interestingly, presence of complicated $LH-{\beta}$ transcripts in rat testis was accidently found; testicular $LH-{\beta}$ transcripts were confined in seminiferous tubules to spermatids, and the translated products were localized in the elongated spermatids. We hypothesized that mouse testis has potential to produce the tissue specific $LH-{\beta}$ with similar structure to the rat testicular forms. To verify our hypothesis, we examined the adult mouse (ICR) testis using RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry. The PCR revealed the presence of the identical products in the reactions for three LH subunit types. The expected product sizes for mouse $Cg{\alpha}$ and $LH-{\beta}$ known as pituitary type were 224 bp and 503 bp, respectively. The testicular type $LH-{\beta}$ products were produced by a primer set based on the rat sequences, with unexpected size of 800 bp. Sequencing revealed that the proximal and distal parts (2-82 and 661- 773 bp, respectively) were homologous to rat testicular $LH-{\beta}$ cDNA, and middle part (83-660 bp) was a unique mouse-specific region. Both $Cg{\alpha}$ and $LH-{\beta}$ positive signals were in the round and elongated spermatids and mature sperms, and the $LH-{\beta}$ signals were more intense. In conclusion, our study demonstrated that the presence and localization of the LH subunits in mouse testis. Further studies will be needed to understand the precise structure and function of mouse testicular LH.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.105-108
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• 2000

Oligonucleotide primers amplifying a 344 bp fragment on the integrin-like protein alpha-INT1p gene (${\alpha}$INT1) of Candida albicans were synthesized for screenign of C. albicans from clinicalsamples by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The PCR specifically amplified DNA from C. albicans and none from any other Candida, fungal, or human DNA in standard used here. The PCR assay showed that the primers (LH1 and LH2) were specific for 26 isolates of C. albicans from clinical smaples, whereas the positive fragment, 344 bp, was not amplified from 15 clinical isolates including 14 other medically important Candida species and an isolate of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. PCR was conducted on the urine samples of 20 patients and 4 samples were C. albicans positive. The detection limit of the PCR assay for C. albicans was shown to be approximately 10 cells/ml saline. The PCR system using 344 bp ${\alpha}$INT1 as a target is more specific and rapid than the conventional culture method, and the sensitive detection method is applicable to clinical diagnosis of C. albicans infections.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.8
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• pp.1119-1126
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• 2018

Objective: Present investigation was aimed to study the Single Nucleotide Variants of the luteinizing hormone beta ($LH{\beta}$) gene and to analyze their association with the semen quality (fresh and post-thawed frozen semen) and luteinizing hormone (LH) concentrations in Murrah buffalo bulls. Methods: Polymerase chain reaction-single stranded conformational polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) and Sanger sequencing method is used to study genetic variability in $LH{\beta}$ gene. LH assay was carried out using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method. A fixed general linear model was used to analyze association of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of $LH{\beta}$ gene with semen quality in 109 and LH concentrations in 80 Murrah bulls. Results: $LH{\beta}$ gene was found to be polymorphic. Total six SNPs were identified in $LH{\beta}$ gene g C356090A, g C356113T, g A356701G, g G355869A, g G356330C, and g G356606T. Single Stranded Conformational Polymorphism variants of pattern 2 of exon 1+pattern 2 of exon 2+pattern 1 of exon 3 had highly significant (p<0.01) effect on sperm concentration (million/mL), percent mass motility, acrosome integrity and membrane integrity in fresh and frozen semen whereas significant (p<0.05) effect was observed on percent live spermatozoa. SSCP variants of pattern 2 of exon 1+pattern 2 of exon 2+pattern 1 of exon 3 had highly significant (p<0.01) effect on luteinizing hormone concentrations too. Conclusion: The observed association between SSCP variants of $LH{\beta}$ gene with semen quality parameters and LH concentrations indicated the possibilities of using $LH{\beta}$ as a candidate gene for identification of markers for semen quality traits and LH concentrations in Murrah buffaloes.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.175-180
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• 2001

The ectopic expression of gonadotropin releasing hormone(GnRH and luteinizing hormone(LH) in several tissues is a quite intriguing phenomenon. Recently, the presence of GnRH and its receptor has been clearly demonstrated in rodents and human mammary gland. In this context, one can postulate that the presence of local circuit composed of GnRH and LH in the gland. The present study was undertaken to elucidate whether there is a correlation between the LH expression in rat mammary gland and physiological status during the process of mammary differentiation. LH contents in mammary gland from cycling to weaning rats were measured by radioimmunoassay(RIA). In cycling rats, changes of the LH level in both serum and mammary gland showed similar pattern as the highest level in proestrus and the lowest level in diestrus II stage. While the serum LH levels were fluctuated from pregnant through involution stage, a sharp decline of mammary LH contents was observed in the lactating rats. This decrement was recovered in involuting rats to the level of proestrus stage. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Southern blot analyses demonstrated that the transcriptional activities of the mammary LH and GnRH were increased from diestrus I stage to estrus stage, and the increased levels were maintained in pregnant, lactation and involution stages. To test the hypothesis that the alteration in mammary LH expression might be steroid-dependant, ovariectomy(OVX) and steroid supplement model was employed. As expected, supplement of estradiol(E$_2$) after OVX remarkably decreased serum LH level compared to that in serum from vehicle-only treated rats. Likewise, administration of E$_2$ significantly reduced the mammary LH content. The present study demonstrated that (i) the LH expression in mammary gland could be altered by some physiological parameters such as estrous cycle, pregnancy, lactation and involution, and (ii) ovarian steroid especially estrogen seems to be one of major endocrine factors which are responsible for regulation of mammary LH expression.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.237-244
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• 2011

Ski protein is implicated in proliferation/differentiation in a variety of cells. We had previously reported that Ski protein is present in granulosa cells of atretic follicles, but not in preovulatory follicles, suggesting that Ski has a role in apoptosis of granulosa cells. The alternative fate of granulosa cells other than apoptosis is to differentiate to luteal cells, however, it is unknown whether Ski is expressed and has a role in granulosa cells undergoing luteinization. Thus, the aim of the present study was to examine whether the initiation of luteinization with luteinizing hormone (LH) directly regulates expression of Ski in the luteinized granulosa and luteal cells after ovulation by in vitro models. RT-PCR and real time PCR analysis respectively revealed that LH had no effect on c-Ski mRNA expression in the cultured granulosa cells regardless of LH treatment. Though Ski protein is absent in granulosa cells of preovulatory follicle, its mRNA (c-Ski) was expressed and the level was unchanged even after LH surge. Taken together, these results demonstrated that Ski protein expression is induced in granulosa cells upon luteinization, and suggested that its expression is regulated post-transcriptionally. Moreover, expression of mRNA of Arkadia, an E3 ubiquitin ligases, in luteinizing granulosa cells in vivo was assessed by realtime-PCR. The levels of Arkadia mRNA expression were unchanged during follicular growth and postovulatory luteinization. These findings suggest that Ski protein level may be regulated during luteinization at translational and/or post-translational level but not by Arkadia.