Chicken oviduct-the target tissue for growth hormone action: effect on cell proliferation and apoptosis and on the gene expression of some oviduct-specific proteins.

ABSTRACT: The aim of this study was to examine the in vivo effect of growth hormone (GH) on cell proliferation and apoptosis and on the gene expression of selected proteins in the chicken oviduct before sexual maturity (first oviposition). Ten-week-old Hy-Line Brown chickens were injected three times a week with 200 μg · kg(-1) body weight of recombinant chicken GH (cGH) until 16 weeks of age. Control hens received 0.9 % NaCl with 0.05 % bovine serum albumin as a vehicle. Treatment with cGH increased (P < 0.05) oviduct weight at 16 weeks of age, i.e. 1-2 weeks before onset of egg laying. The highest number of proliferating (determined by proliferating cell nuclear antigen [PCNA] immunocytochemistry) and apoptotic (determined by TUNEL assay) cells in the oviduct was found in the mucosal epithelium, a

SUBMITTER: Hrabia A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4077250 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature