Facultad de Ciencias, Laboratorio de Biología de la Reproducción Animal, Departamento de Biología Comparada, Mexico.
Gen Comp Endocrinol. 2013 Aug 1;189:51-8. doi: 10.1016/j.ygcen.2013.04.027. Epub 2013 May 6.
Sex steroids participate in the regulation of reproduction in female chickens. In this work, we determined the content of androgen receptor (AR), intracellular progesterone receptor isoforms (PR-A and PR-B), membrane progesterone receptor γ (mPRγ) and estrogen receptor α (ER-α) in the left growing and right regressing ovaries of Gallus domesticus from 13-day-old chicken embryos to 1-month-old chickens by western blot analysis. A marked difference in the morphological characteristics of the left and the right ovaries during development was observed. Results show a higher content of AR in the left ovary than in the right one in all ages. In the left ovary, the highest content of AR was observed on day 13 of embryonic development, and diminished with age. In the right ovary, AR was expressed from day 13 of embryonic development to 1-day-old, and became undetectable at 1-week and 1-month-old. In the left ovary, PR isoforms were not detected on day 13 of embryonic development, but they presented a marked expression after hatching. In the right ovary, the highest expression of both PR isoforms was found on 1-day-old, and significantly decreased with age. PR-B was the predominant isoform on 1-day and 1-month old in the left ovary, whereas PR-A was the predominant one on day 13 of embryonic development in the right ovary. Interestingly, mPRγ was detected at 1-week and 1-month-old in the left ovary meanwhile in the right ovary, it was detected from day 13 of embryonic development to 1-day-old. ER-α was only detected in the left ovary from day 13 to 1-week-old, while in 1-month-old chickens, it was expressed in both ovaries. In the left ovary, ER-α content was lower from 1-day to 1-month-old as compared with day 13 of embryonic development. Our results demonstrate a differential expression of sex steroid hormone receptors between the left growing and the right regressing ovary, and throughout chickens' age; and this is the first report about mPR expression in birds.
性激素参与调控母鸡的生殖。本研究通过 Western blot 分析，测定了从 13 日龄鸡胚到 1 月龄鸡的左侧生长和右侧退化卵巢中雄激素受体 (AR)、细胞内孕激素受体同工型 (PR-A 和 PR-B)、膜孕激素受体 γ (mPRγ) 和雌激素受体 α (ER-α) 的含量。观察到发育过程中左右卵巢的形态特征存在显著差异。结果表明，在所有年龄段，左侧卵巢中 AR 的含量均高于右侧。在左侧卵巢中，AR 含量在胚胎发育第 13 天最高，随年龄增长而降低。在右侧卵巢中，AR 从胚胎发育第 13 天表达到 1 日龄，1 周龄和 1 月龄时检测不到。在左侧卵巢中，胚胎发育第 13 天未检测到 PR 同工型，但孵化后表达明显。在右侧卵巢中，两种 PR 同工型的表达在 1 日龄最高，随年龄增长显著降低。PR-B 是左侧卵巢 1 日龄和 1 月龄的主要同工型，而 PR-A 是右侧卵巢胚胎发育第 13 天的主要同工型。有趣的是，mPRγ 在左侧卵巢中于 1 周龄和 1 月龄检测到，而在右侧卵巢中于胚胎发育第 13 天到 1 日龄检测到。ER-α 仅在左侧卵巢中从第 13 天到 1 周龄表达，而在 1 月龄鸡中，两侧卵巢均表达。在左侧卵巢中，与胚胎发育第 13 天相比，从 1 日龄到 1 月龄 ER-α 的含量较低。我们的结果表明，在母鸡的一生中，左侧生长卵巢和右侧退化卵巢之间以及整个发育过程中存在性激素受体的差异表达；这是关于鸟类中 mPR 表达的首次报道。
