3 research outputs found
Involvement of Pitx2, a Homeodomain Transcription Factor, in Hypothyroidism Associated Reproductive Disorders
Tachykinin Family Genes and their Receptors are Differentially Expressed in the Hypothyroid Ovary and Pituitary
Plasma tachykinin levels are known to be altered with
sexual acyclicity and loss of reproductive function.
Ovulatory dysfunction, as seen in postmenopausal
women, is also often encountered in hypothyroid
patients. To know the involvement of different
tachykinin genes in hypothyroidism-associated
reproductive disorders, we performed DD-PCR with
the pituitary RNA of control and hypothyroid rats to
see the differentially expressed gene profile.
Subsequently, we selected a few clones, tachykinin
being one of them. Since its expression was up
regulated in hypothyroidism as it does in the sexually
acyclic females, we wanted to correlate these two
phenomena with hypothyroidism associated
reproductive disorders. We observed differential
expression of tac2 along with other tk genes and their
receptors in rat pituitary and ovary, which suggests
that hypothyroidism affects the expression of these genes in these tissues. The experiments were
repeated in ovarian tissue obtained at surgery from
hypothyroid human patients, which showed similar
expression pattern of TAC3 (equivalent to rat tac2)
and their receptors as in rat ovary. Significant
reduction of tac2 expression in reproductively less
active rat ovary suggests the association of tac2 with
reproductive senescence. Our results suggest that
decline in reproductive function in hypothyroidism is
associated with altered expression level of tac2 and
its receptors. Further investigation in this area could
elucidate the possible mechanism of tachykinins’
involvement in loss of sexual cyclicity and other
reproductive disorders associated with
hypothyroidism