Dynamic changes in spontaneous intracellular free calcium oscillations and their relationship to prolactin gene expression in single, primary mammotropes

Molecular Endocrinology
C VillalobosL S Frawley

Abstract

Cytosolic calcium plays a critical role in the control of a number of genes, including that of the pituitary hormone PRL. Cells that secrete this hormone, termed mammotropes, display spontaneous oscillations of intracellular free calcium ([Ca2+]i) that are positively correlated to PRL release. However, the precise contribution of calcium signaling to the expression of any gene including PRL has remained obscure owing to the requirement for and lack of a strategy for monitoring both of these dynamic variables (gene expression and [Ca2+]i oscillations) in the same living cell. In the present study, we overcame this technical limitation by making real-time measurements of PRL gene expression in transfected, primary rat mammotropes previously subjected to [Ca2+]i determinations by digital imaging fluorescence microscopy of fura-2. Our results showed that the majority of mammotropes (75%) exhibited distinct oscillatory behaviors that could be subgrouped on the basis of frequency/amplitude of [Ca2+]i changes, whereas the remainder (25%) were quiescent (nonoscillatory). Interestingly, most mammotropes displayed spontaneous transitions between oscillatory and quiescent states over the course of several hours. As a consequence of this o...Continue Reading

Citations

Jul 5, 2001·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·T FauquierP Mollard
Aug 5, 1998·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·L NuñezL S Frawley
Mar 29, 2001·Trends in Immunology·P Friedl, M Gunzer
Nov 1, 2002·General and Comparative Endocrinology·Gilles M LeclercFredric R Boockfor
Jun 6, 2003·Brain Research·F Javier Bermúdez-SilvaPedro Fernández-Llebrez
Aug 17, 2000·BioEssays : News and Reviews in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology·N C SpitzerT M Gomez
Jul 5, 2002·Nature·Yuliya V Gorbunova, Nicholas C Spitzer
Oct 7, 2005·American Journal of Physiology. Cell Physiology·Agnese SecondoLucio Annunziato
Mar 4, 2000·Endocrinology·X BonnefontP Mollard
Mar 15, 2012·American Journal of Physiology. Endocrinology and Metabolism·Adelaide Del ViscovoLorella M T Canzoniero
Aug 24, 2002·Endocrinology·Carlos VillalobosL Stephen Frawley
Jan 24, 2003·American Journal of Physiology. Cell Physiology·A P SealeE G Grau

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