Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale - Sez. Fisiologia umana e Funzioni Biologiche Integrate F. Bottazzi- Seconda Università di Napoli, via Costantinopoli 16 - 80138 Napoli - Italy.
Comp Biochem Physiol A Mol Integr Physiol. 2011 Apr;158(4):367-73. doi: 10.1016/j.cbpa.2010.09.005. Epub 2010 Sep 16.
GHRELIN (GHRL) is an acylated peptide that contains 28-amino acids prevalently expressed in the stomach of several species. Specifically, it contributes to energy balance, but some new evidence highlights its role in the regulation of reproductive functions. In fact, this protein has been detected at testicular level in the tubular and interstitial compartments of several vertebrate species, and previous research has demonstrated that GHRL affects various aspects of spermatogenesis and steroidogenesis. GHRL clearly plays an inhibitory role in mammalian reproduction, in contrast GHRL stimulates reproductive functions in non mammalian vertebrate. We have focused our attention on the comparative aspect of GHRL, thus studying its expression in an amphibian seasonal breeder, Pelophylax esculentus, to verify the presence and localization, of Ghrl transcript variations during the frog reproductive cycle, in order to demonstrate that Pelophylax esculentus may represent a useful animal model to assess the role of GHRL in male fertility.
生长激素释放肽（GHRL）是一种酰化肽，含有 28 个氨基酸，在几种物种的胃中广泛表达。具体来说，它有助于能量平衡，但一些新的证据强调了它在调节生殖功能中的作用。事实上，这种蛋白质已在几种脊椎动物的管状和间质隔室的睾丸水平上被检测到，并且先前的研究表明 GHRL 影响精子发生和类固醇生成的各个方面。GHRL 显然在哺乳动物生殖中起抑制作用，而 GHRL 在非哺乳动物脊椎动物中刺激生殖功能。我们专注于 GHRL 的比较方面，因此研究了它在季节性繁殖的两栖动物 Pelophylax esculentus 中的表达，以验证 Ghrl 转录变体在青蛙生殖周期中的存在和定位，以证明 Pelophylax esculentus 可能代表一种有用的动物模型，用于评估 GHRL 在男性生育能力中的作用。
