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Visualization of gene expression of prolactin-receptor (PRL-R) by in situ hybridization in reproductive organs of Typhlonectes compressicauda, a gymnophionan amphibian

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Abstract.

The expression of the long form of prolactin receptor (PRL-R) mRNAs was studied in reproductive organs from both male and female Typhlonectes compressicauda, an amphibian, by quantitative in situ hybridization. These PRL-R mRNAs were expressed in all the organs studied. In ovarian tissue, mRNAs coding for the long form of PRL-R were strongly expressed in ovaries with compact and vascularized corpora lutea, i.e., during the middle and the end of pregnancy. During the other periods of cycle, sexual rest, vitellogenesis and beginning of pregnancy, expression of these mRNAs was lower than in other periods. In the testis, mRNAs coding for the long form of PRL-R were expressed in germ cells as well as in Leydig and Sertoli cells. In müllerian glands, important variations of expression in these mRNAs have been observed with a large increase during the breeding period and a decrease during sexual rest. Variations of gene expression of the long form of PRL-R for all tissues studied are correlated to synthesis of PRL in the pituitary in both male and female Typhlonectes compressicauda.

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Fig. 1a–d.
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Acknowledgements.

We are grateful to P. Kelly, INSERM U344, Hôpital Necker, Paris, for providing the probes and to M.T. Laurent for her technical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Biologie générale, Université Catholique and Laboratoire de Reproduction et Développement des Vertébrés, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, 25 rue du Plat, 69288, Lyon cedex 02, France

    Jean-Marie Exbrayat

  2. CNRS UMR 5123, Université Claude Bernard-Lyon 1, 43, Bat du 11 Novembre 1918, 69622, Villeurbanne cedex, France

    Gérard Morel

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  1. Jean-Marie Exbrayat
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Correspondence to Jean-Marie Exbrayat.

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Exbrayat, JM., Morel, G. Visualization of gene expression of prolactin-receptor (PRL-R) by in situ hybridization in reproductive organs of Typhlonectes compressicauda, a gymnophionan amphibian. Cell Tissue Res 312, 361–367 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00441-003-0730-4

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