Androgen-dependent sexual dimorphism in pituitary tryptophan hydroxylase expression: relevance to sex differences in pituitary hormones.

ABSTRACT: Serotonin is a biogenic monoamine conserved across phyla that is implicated in diverse physiological and behavioural functions. On examining the expression of the rate-limiting enzymes in serotonin synthesis, tryptophan hydroxylases (TPHs), in the teleost medaka (Oryzias latipes), we found that males have much higher levels of tph1 expression as compared with females. This robust sexual dimorphism was found to probably result from the direct stimulation of tph1 transcription by androgen/androgen receptor binding to canonical bipartite androgen-responsive elements in its proximal promoter region. Our results further revealed that tph1 expression occurs exclusively in pro-opiomelanocortin (pomc)-expressing cells and that the resulting serotonin and its deri

SUBMITTER: Kawabata-Sakata Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7341908 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature