Disease relevance of FST

• To further explore the physiological role of follistatin, we have expressed recombinant human follistatins with 315 (rhFS-315) and 288 (rhFS-288) amino acids in Chinese hamster ovary cells under the control of the simian virus-40 promoter [1].

High impact information on FST

• The displacement curves generated with human follicular fluid and serum were parallel with the standard curve of porcine follistatin [2].
• After treatment with a GnRH agonist and gonadotropin, serum estradiol and follistatin levels were increased, and there was a direct positive correlation between the elevated levels of estradiol and follistatin (r = 0.93, p less than 0.01) [2].
• To understand this disparity, we studied expression of the follistatin gene and of genes for the inhibin/activin alpha-, beta A-, and beta B-subunits in porcine anterior pituitary glands using quantitative reverse transcription-PCR and ribonuclease protection techniques [3].
• EGF (0.01, 0.1, 1, and 10 nM) induced a dose-dependent induction of follistatin gene expression in granulosa cells after 2-h incubation, with maximal stimulation of 33-fold at a dose of 1 nM [4].
• Pretreatment of granulosa cells for 24 h with PMA abrogated the EGF-induced stimulation of follistatin mRNA accumulation [4].

Biological context of FST

• The first exon encodes the putative signal sequence, followed by four exons which encode the four domains of FS, three of which are highly homologous to each other [5].
• Herein, we report the cloning of the porcine FS gene whose DNA structure reveals that the two populations of mRNA are generated by alternative splicing [5].
• The FST per locus varied from 0.019 (S0090) to 0.170 (SW951), and the average FST of all loci was 0.077, which means that most of the genetic variation was kept within breeds and only a little of the genetic variation exists between populations [6].
• Follistatin gene expression was induced by a 2-h incubation with EGF (3 nM), but not by LH (100 ng/ml), GnRH (10 nM) or prostaglandin F2 alpha (80 micrograms/ml) [4].
• Within an animal, concentration of FS mRNAs was related more to stage of the follicular phase than to follicular size [7].

Anatomical context of FST

• Follistatin is a glycosylated monomeric protein originally isolated from ovarian follicular fluid based on its ability to specifically inhibit pituitary FSH release [1].
• Regulation of follistatin messenger ribonucleic acid in porcine granulosa cells by epidermal growth factor and the protein kinase-C pathway [4].
• Expression of the follistatin (FS) and inhibin/activin (I/A) alpha, beta(A), and beta(B) subunit genes in porcine ovarian follicles was evaluated by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and/or RNase protection procedures to establish changes during the final stages of follicular development [7].
• Uterine-embryonic interaction in pig: activin, follistatin, and activin receptor II in uterus and embryo during early gestation [8].
• During streak stages, follistatin was detected in the node and primitive streak [8].

Associations of FST with chemical compounds

• Stimulation of follistatin mRNA accumulation in cultured granulosa cells by dibutyryl cAMP (30, 100 and 300 mumol l-1) and forskolin (3, 10 and 100 mumol l-1) was dose dependent [9].
• As 50% acetonitrile (CH3CN) separated free and follistatin-bound activin, plasma pretreated with an equal volume of CH3CN was used as the assay sample and B/F separation was also done with 50% CH3CN [10].

Other interactions of FST

• Characterization of a line of pigs previously selected for increased litter size for RBP4 and follistatin [11].
• The time course of induction of follistatin mRNA by EGF was very similar to that induced by PMA, with maximal stimulation occurring at 2 h and declining thereafter [4].
• Follistatin mRNA was quantitated by slot blot hybridization of total RNA from primary cultures of porcine granulosa cells treated with the phorbol ester phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA), an activator of PKC [4].
• This study tested our hypothesis that inhibin/activin (I/A) betaB subunit and not follistatin (FS) gene expression relates positively to plasma FSH concentrations in the anterior pituitary gland of boars [12].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of FST

• In addition, restriction endonuclease mapping and DNA sequencing show that the FS gene is approximately 6 Kb long and consists of six exons separated by five introns [5].
• We employed five anxiety models: Separation-induced pup vocalizations (guinea pig and rat), elevated plus-maze (EPM), conditioned lick suppression (CLS), and marble burying (mouse); as well as three depression models: forced swim test (FST; mouse and rat) and tail suspension test (TST; mouse) [13].
• Radioimmunoassay of follistatin: application for in vitro fertilization procedures [2].

References