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Placental expression of pituitary hormones is an ancestral feature of therian mammals.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:The placenta is essential for supplying nutrients and gases to the developing mammalian young before birth. While all mammals have a functional placenta, only in therian mammals (marsupials and eutherians) does the placenta closely appose or invade the uterine endometrium. The eutherian placenta secretes hormones that are structurally and functionally similar to pituitary growth hormone (GH), prolactin (PRL) and luteinizing hormone (LH). Marsupial and eutherian mammals diverged from a common ancestor approximately 125 to 148 million years ago and developed distinct reproductive strategies. As in eutherians, marsupials rely on a short-lived but functional placenta for embryogenesis. RESULTS:We characterized pituitary GH, GH-R, IGF-2, PRL and LH? in a macropodid marsupial, the tammar wallaby, Macropus eugenii. These genes were expressed in the tammar placenta during the last third of gestation when most fetal growth occurs and active organogenesis is initiated. The mRNA of key growth genes GH, GH-R, IGF-2 and PRL were expressed during late pregnancy. We found significant up-regulation of GH, GH-R and IGF-2 after the start of the rapid growth phase of organogenesis which suggests that the placental growth hormones regulate the rapid phase of fetal growth. CONCLUSIONS:This is the first demonstration of the existence of pituitary hormones in the marsupial placenta. Placental expression of these pituitary hormones has clearly been conserved in marsupials as in eutherian mammals, suggesting an ancestral origin of the evolution of placental expression and a critical function of these hormones in growth and development of all therian mammals.

SUBMITTER: Menzies BR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3170617 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Placental expression of pituitary hormones is an ancestral feature of therian mammals.

Menzies Brandon R BR Pask Andrew J AJ Renfree Marilyn B MB

EvoDevo 20110819

<h4>Background</h4>The placenta is essential for supplying nutrients and gases to the developing mammalian young before birth. While all mammals have a functional placenta, only in therian mammals (marsupials and eutherians) does the placenta closely appose or invade the uterine endometrium. The eutherian placenta secretes hormones that are structurally and functionally similar to pituitary growth hormone (GH), prolactin (PRL) and luteinizing hormone (LH). Marsupial and eutherian mammals diverge ...[more]

PMID: 21854600

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Project description:ContextPlacental CYP27B1 may contribute to circulating maternal calcitriol concentrations across gestation, but determinants of CYP27B1 and CYP24A1 expression in term human placental tissue are not well established.ObjectiveWe hypothesized that higher CYP27B1 protein expression would be associated with increased maternal calcitriol during gestation and that CYP27B1 expression would be impacted by substrate availability.DesignThis was a prospective, longitudinal study.SettingThe study was completed in an urban, prenatal clinic located in Rochester, New York.PatientsThe study was undertaken in a cohort of 70 pregnant adolescents (≤18 y of age) and their term neonates.InterventionThere was no intervention.Main outcomesProtein and mRNA expressions of CYP27B1, CYP24A1, and vitamin D receptor were measured in term placental tissue and related to 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D], 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, PTH, serum total calcium, IL-6, leptin, and osteoprotegerin measured in maternal serum at midgestation and delivery and in umbilical cord serum at birth.ResultsPlacental CYP27B1 protein expression was significantly positively associated with maternal 25(OH)D at both midgestation (n = 68, P = .009) and delivery (n=67, P = .006). Maternal serum 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D concentrations at midgestation were positively correlated with term placental CYP27B1 mRNA expression (n = 49, P = .002). Significant positive associations were evident between placental CYP27B1 and CYP24A1 protein expression (P = .001, n = 70). Maternal PTH concentrations at midgestation or delivery did not significantly impact placental protein or transcript level of either enzyme. Variability in placental CYP27B1 protein expression was best captured by a model that included maternal midgestation 25(OH)D concentration, placental vitamin D receptor protein expression, and maternal midgestation IL-6 concentrations (P = .002, n = 60, R(2) = 0.22).ConclusionsHigher maternal 25(OH)D during pregnancy was associated with significantly higher placental protein expression of CYP27B1 at term supportive of a link between substrate availability and placental production of calcitriol.

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Placental expression of pituitary hormones is an ancestral feature of therian mammals.

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Placental expression of pituitary hormones is an ancestral feature of therian mammals.

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