The structure and regulation of expression of the mouse growth hormone receptor and binding protein.

The mouse growth hormone receptor (mGHR) and the mouse growth hormone-binding protein (mGHBP) are products of a single gene which are generated by alternative splicing. The factors that regulate the expression of mGHR and mGHBP mRNA and protein during pregnancy in the mouse are incompletely understood. During pregnancy in the mouse, there are parallel increases in circulating mouse growth hormone (mGH), liver mGHR, and serum mGHBP. The increase in both hepatic mGHR and serum mGHBP begins on Day 9 of gestation and by late gestation the hepatic mGHR content has increased 8-fold and serum mGHBP has increased 30-fold compared with values in nonpregnant controls. A parallel increase occurs in the steady state levels of liver GHR and GHBP encoding mRNAs. The increase in both messages begins on Day 9 of gestation; however, the GHR mRNA reaches maximum levels by Day 13, while the GHBP mRNA continues to increase until the end of pregnancy. The magnitude of the increase in the GHR-encoding message is 15- to 20-fold between nonpregnant and late pregnant mice, and the magnitude of the increase in the GHBP-encoding message is 30- to 50-fold. Both pituitary mGH and the number of conceptuses influence the receptors and binding protein for mGH during pregnancy.