Placental expression of pituitary hormones is an ancestral feature of therian mammals.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The placenta is essential for supplying nutrients and gases to the developing mammalian young before birth. While all mammals have a functional placenta, only in therian mammals (marsupials and eutherians) does the placenta closely appose or invade the uterine endometrium. The eutherian placenta secretes hormones that are structurally and functionally similar to pituitary growth hormone (GH), prolactin (PRL) and luteinizing hormone (LH). Marsupial and eutherian mammals diverged from a common ancestor approximately 125 to 148 million years ago and developed distinct reproductive strategies. As in eutherians, marsupials rely on a short-lived but functional placenta for embryogenesis.

Results

We characterized pituitary GH, GH-R, IGF-2, PRL and LHβ in a macropodid mar

SUBMITTER: Menzies BR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3170617 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature