Ubiquitous expression of myostatin in chicken embryonic tissues: Its high expression in testis and ovary

Kaiyu Kubota, Fuminori Sato, Shinya Aramaki, Tomoki Soh, Nobuhiko Yamauchi, Masa aki Hattori

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

21 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The skeletal muscle of mammals is known to express myostatin (GDF-8) that acts as a potent negative regulator of skeletal muscle growth. However, the function of GDF-8 is not limited to skeletal muscle, because of its ubiquitous expression in fish. Here we investigated whether GDF-8 is expressed in various tissues including gonads during chicken embryogenesis. As revealed by RT-PCR and Western blotting, the transcript and protein for GDF-8 were detected in brain, eye, gizzard, muscle, heart, small gut, large gut, mesonephroi, testis and ovary of chicken embryos at E12, but not in liver. GDF-8 was constitutively expressed in testis and ovary as well as muscle at E6-E21, as demonstrated by in situ hybridization on section and whole-mount. Some cell population in testis, but not identified, highly expressed GDF-8. On the other hand, the medulla and germinal epithelium of ovary highly expressed it. Collectively, these results indicate that GDF-8 is ubiquitously expressed in various tissues of chicken embryos including testis and ovary through the stage of embryogenesis.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)550-555
Number of pages6
JournalComparative Biochemistry and Physiology - A Molecular and Integrative Physiology
Volume148
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2007

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Biochemistry
  • Physiology
  • Molecular Biology

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