High impact information on PRLR

• Characterization of unique truncated prolactin receptor transcripts, corresponding to the intracellular domain, in the testis of the sexually mature chicken [1].
• Treatment of day 19 pregnant rats with the antiprogesterone RU 486 induced, 24 h later, PRL receptor mRNAs in mammary gland but not in liver [2].
• Prolactin receptor gene expression in rat mammary gland and liver during pregnancy and lactation [2].
• Membrane PRL receptor concentrations were also measured in the same tissues used for the mRNA study by binding to a 125I-labeled monoclonal antibody (U5), which specifically recognizes the PRL receptor at a site different from the hormone binding site [2].
• Both extracellular units of cPRLR possessed two structural features characteristic of the ligand binding units of cytokine/prolactin receptor family, namely two pairs of cysteine residues and a WSXWS motif [3].

Biological context of PRLR

• Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis showed that the expression levels of all these 5'-truncated PRLR transcripts are simultaneously increased during sexual maturation, accompanying the decrease of the amount of the canonical full-length transcript for PRLR [4].
• Development of a real-time (Q) PCR assay to measure variation in expression of prolactin receptor mRNA in the hypothalamus and pituitary gland during late embryogenesis in turkeys and chickens [5].
• Fifteen sets of primers were used to amplify the nucleotide sequences of the promotor of PRL and exons of PRLR [6].
• There was a sex difference in anterior pituitary and basal hypothalamic PRLR mRNA, with lower values in both tissues in females than in males [7].
• A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), A9026G (GenBank accession no. AY237377), in exon 3 of PRLR was also detected, which led to a nucleotide transition in the 5'-untranslated region (5'-UTR) of PRLR cDNA [6].

Anatomical context of PRLR

• Changes in levels of PRLR mRNA in the pituitary gland and hypothalamus of chickens and turkeys from embryonic day (ED) 15 and ED21 to 1 day post-hatch, respectively, were measured by real-time PCR [5].
• In support of this, stimulation of the turkey pituitary gland with VIP on ED24 resulted in a 4- and 3-fold increase in PRL and PRLR, respectively [5].
• There were no significant differences in the relative proportions of long to short forms of PRL receptor mRNAs at the different reproductive states, but the proportion of the long form was slightly greater in mammary gland than in liver [2].
• Relationship between prolactin receptor mRNA in the anterior pituitary gland and hypothalamus and reproductive state in male and female bantams (Gallus domesticus) [7].
• The expression levels of the prolactin receptor mRNA in the kidney, intestine, and allantoic membrane were retained at constant levels during later stages of embryogenesis (Days 17 and 19) and posthatch periods (2 and 28 d after hatching) [8].

Regulatory relationships of PRLR

• The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that prolactin may up- and down-regulate prolactin receptor gene expression in the anterior pituitary gland and hypothalamus respectively [7].

Other interactions of PRLR

• Similarly, circulating levels of PRL also increased during this interval and were highly correlated with levels of the PRLR mRNA in both the pituitary gland and hypothalamus [5].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of PRLR

• Northern blotting analysis identified two sizes of chicken PRLR mRNA transcripts (7.5 and 3.3 kb) in hypothalami from laying White Leghorn and bantam hens [9].
• Southern blotting analysis using four restriction enzymes and a chicken PRLR cDNA probe demonstrated identical digestion patterns for White Leghorn and bantam genomic DNA [9].

References