Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UNIPROT:P56851 (epididymal)
 11,273 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

We have developed a simple and rapid procedure for the isolation of total RNA from small amounts of adipose tissue. Using this method, it is possible to obtain quantitative recovery of RNA from less than 300 mg of adipose tissue, with an average yield of 70 micrograms of RNA per gram of adipose tissue. Northern blot analysis of rat epididymal adipose tissue RNA samples was performed using a beta-actin probe and demonstrated that intact total RNA had been isolated. The procedure has been adapted for use in 1.5-ml microcentrifuge Eppendorf tubes, providing a convenient and inexpensive method for the reproducible recovery of intact RNA from sparse samples of adipose tissue.
 ...
PMID:A micromethod for the isolation of total RNA from adipose tissue. 169 62

With the identification of two different glucose transporter species in adipose cells it is crucial to determine the role of these transporters in the alterations in glucose transport activity associated with different metabolic and nutritional states. In the present study we assess levels of expression of Glut 1 and Glut 4 transporters and basal and insulin-stimulated glucose transport activity in adipocytes from Sprague-Dawley rats fed standard chow (control), combined liquid diet and standard chow (overfed), high fat diet, or energy-restricted diet for 7 weeks. High fat feeding was associated with relative postprandial hypoglycemia (P less than 0.05) and hypoinsulinemia (P less than 0.05). Although the high fat fed animals had lower body weights (P less than 0.05) than control rats, their body compositions showed obesity, with 36% heavier epididymal fat pads (P less than 0.05) and a 47% increase in adipocyte volume (P less than 0.05). Fat feeding caused a 78% reduction in insulin-stimulated glucose transport per adipocyte (P less than 0.05). In parallel we found 92% and 94% reductions in Glut 4 protein and mRNA per adipocyte, respectively, (P less than 0.01) in fat-fed rats. Substantial reductions were also seen in Glut 1 protein and mRNA per fat cell in the same rats (62% and 76%, respectively; P less than 0.05). However, the changes in Glut 1 expression were of the same magnitude as changes in the cytoskeletal protein beta-actin, reflecting a decreased expression of several proteins in this nutritional state. Even though overfeeding and energy restriction brought about opposite changes in adiposity, no significant alterations were demonstrated in glucose transport rate or glucose transporter expression. The impaired insulin-stimulated glucose transport in adipose cells from high fat-fed rats occurs in the presence of a dramatic decrease in the expression of the major insulin-responsive glucose transporter (Glut 4). The reduced gene expression may be caused by chronic hypoinsulinemia and may contribute to the insulin resistance observed in this state.
 ...
PMID:High fat feeding causes insulin resistance and a marked decrease in the expression of glucose transporters (Glut 4) in fat cells of rats. 185 75

Two cDNA probes derived from the nucleic acid sequence for the rabbit GH receptor were used to study RNA samples from normal and hypophysectomized (hypox) rat tissues by Northern analysis. Results obtained with a probe that contained a nucleotide sequence corresponding to part of the extracellular domain of the GH receptor indicated that rat liver, gastrocnemius muscle, and epididymal fat each contain a 4.4-kilobase (kb) message and one or more shorter messages that appear to be homologous to the rabbit GH receptor message. The other probe, which contained a nucleotide sequence that corresponds to the intracellular domain of the GH receptor, detected only one 4.4-kb message in these rat tissues. These results suggest that rat tissues may synthesize several forms of the GH receptor, but only one form that contains a region homologous to the intracellular domain of the rabbit liver GH receptor. Hypophysectomy increased the abundance of the 4.4-kb message 5-fold in muscle and reduced it by a factor of 2 in adipose tissue. No significant difference was seen between GH receptor message levels of normal and hypox rat liver when the results were expressed as a fraction of the total RNA. The level of the beta-actin message was also measured in liver, muscle, and fat from normal and hypox rats. No significant differences were found when the message levels in normal rats were compared to those for the corresponding tissue in hypox rats. When normalized to the beta-actin message levels, a significant increase was seen in the relative amount of the GH receptor mRNA in muscle and liver of hypox rats. The increased levels of the GH receptor message in muscle and liver and the simultaneous decreased level in fat suggest that GH receptor synthesis may be regulated selectively in these tissues by hormonal factors that are altered by hypophysectomy.
 ...
PMID:Effect of hypophysectomy on growth hormone receptor gene expression in rat tissues. 235 Nov 9

Ageing results in decreased replicative potential of preadipocytes, as well as reduced capacities for the lipid accumulation and increases in lipogenic enzyme activities during differentiation of preadipocytes into fat cells. To determine whether decreased differentiation is associated with decreased levels of mRNA for differentiation-dependent genes and whether early as well as late components of the differentiation programme are affected by ageing, we measured beta-actin, alpha-tubulin, lipoprotein lipase, and glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase mRNA levels in undifferentiated and differentiated epididymal preadipocytes from 3-, 17-, and 24-month-old Fischer 344 rats. During ageing, diminished differentiation-related changes occurred in mRNAs affected early (actin, tubulin), midway through (lipoprotein lipase), and late (glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase) in the preadipocyte differentiation process. Hence, early as well as late phases of the differentiation programme were affected by ageing. The effects involved changes in gene transcription or mRNA processing. Our results were not consistent with the hypothesis that age-related decreases in replication are caused by an increased tendency for cell differentiation.
 ...
PMID:Ageing, differentiation, and gene expression in rat epididymal preadipocytes. 819 92

Variability in physiological characteristics among adipose depots could be caused, in part, by mechanisms intrinsic to cells comprising the depots. To evaluate the contribution of intrinsic mechanisms to depot variability, we studied levels of differentiation-dependent mRNAs in differentiating cultured rat epididymal and perirenal preadipocytes and in fat cells isolated from these depots. The magnitude of the change in levels of adipsin and glycerol-3 phosphate dehydrogenase mRNAs, which increase late during differentiation, was greater in perirenal than epididymal preadipocytes. The magnitude of the change in beta-actin mRNA, which decreases early during differentiation, was not site-dependent. Effects of anatomic site on changes in differentiation-dependent mRNAs observed in differentiating preadipocytes in vitro were similar to effects of site on these mRNAs in freshly isolated fat cells: those mRNA species whose levels increase late during preadipocyte differentiation were present in greater abundance in perirenal than epididymal fat cells. Hence, mechanisms which underlie site-dependent variability in adipose function may be intrinsic and could become evident midway through the differentiation process.
 ...
PMID:Effects of fat depot site on differentiation-dependent gene expression in rat preadipocytes. 868 Apr 69

The estrogen receptor-alpha knockout (ERalphaKO, ERalpha-/-) mice were generated via the Cre-loxP system by mating floxed ERalpha mice with beta-actin (ACTB)-Cre mice. The impact of ERalpha gene deletion in the male reproductive system was investigated. The ACTB-Cre/ERalpha(-/-) male mice are infertile and have lost 90% of epididymal sperm when compared with wild-type mice. Serum testosterone levels in ACTB-Cre/ERalpha(-/-) male mice are 2-fold elevated. The ACTB-Cre/ERalpha(-/-) testes consist of atrophic and degenerating seminiferous tubules with less cellularity in the disorganized seminiferous epithelia. Furthermore, the ventral and dorsal-lateral prostates of ACTB-Cre/ERalpha(-/-) mice display reduced branching morphogenesis. Loss of ERalpha could also be responsible for the decreased fibroblast proliferation and changes in the stromal content. In addition, we found bone morphogenetic protein, a mesenchymal inhibitor of prostatic branching morphogenesis, is significantly up-regulated in the ACTB-Cre/ERalpha(-/-) prostates. Collectively, these results suggest that ERalpha is required for male fertility, acts through a paracrine mechanism to regulate prostatic branching morphogenesis, and is involved in the proliferation and differentiation of prostatic stromal compartment.
 ...
PMID:Defects of prostate development and reproductive system in the estrogen receptor-alpha null male mice. 1875 2

Different culture conditions have been used to produce domestic cat embryos. As part of the in vitro procedures, the medium composition significantly affects the quality of the embryo development also. Quality assessments based on cleavage kinetics and blastomere symmetry are useful, but embryos also can differ in their relative gene expression patterns despite similar morphological characteristics. The aim of this study was to compare cat embryos produced with two different in vitro culture systems routinely used in two different laboratories [Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Washington D.C., USA (SCBI) and Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, Germany (IZW)]. Specifically, relative mRNA expression patterns of critical genes for pre-implantation embryo development were assessed in both conditions. Embryos were produced in parallel in both culture systems by IVF using frozen-thawed ejaculated semen in the United States and fresh epididymal sperm in Germany. Success of embryo development in vitro was recorded as well as relative mRNA abundances [DNA methyltransferases 1 and 3A (DNMT1, DNMT3A), gap junction protein alpha 1 (GJA1), octamer-binding transcription factor 4 [OCT4], insulin-like growth factors 1 and 2 receptors (IGF1R, IGF2R), beta-actin (ACTB)] in pools of days 4-5 morulae by semi-quantitative RT-PCR assay. Percentages of cleaved embryos were similar (p > 0.05) between both culture systems, regardless of the location. OCT4 mRNA abundance was higher (p < 0.05) in embryos derived in the SCBI culture system compared with those from the IZW system when epididymal sperm was used for IVF. No clear correlation between the expression pattern and the culture system could be found for all other genes. It is suggested that OCT4 expression might be affected by the media composition in some conditions and can be the indicator of a better embryo quality.
 ...
PMID:Influence of culture medium composition on relative mRNA abundances in domestic cat embryos. 2273

Lipid metabolism in visceral fat cells is correlated with metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular diseases. Okadaic-acid, a 38-carbon fatty acid isolated from the black sponge Halichondria okadai, can stimulate lipolysis by promoting the phosphorylation of several proteins in adipocytes. However, the mechanism of okadaic acid-induced lipolysis and the effects of okadaic acid on lipid-droplet-associated proteins (perilipins and beta-actin) remain unclear. We isolated adipocytes from rat epididymal fat pads and treated them with isoproterenol and/or okadaic acid to estimate lipolysis by measuring glycerol release. Incubating adipocytes with okadaic acid stimulated time-dependent lipolysis. Lipid-droplet-associated perilipins and beta-actin were analyzed by immunoblotting and immunofluorescence, and the association of perilipin A and B was found to be decreased in response to isoproterenol or okadaic acid treatment. Moreover, okadaic-acid treatment could enhance isoproterenol-mediated lipolysis, whereas treatment of several inhibitors such as KT-5720 (PKA inhibitor), calphostin C (PKC inhibitor), or KT-5823 (PKG inhibitor) did not attenuate okadaic-acid-induced lipolysis. By contrast, vanadyl acetylacetonate (tyrosine phosphatase inhibitor) blocked okadaic-acid-dependent lipolysis. These results suggest that okadaic acid induces the phosphorylation and detachment of lipid-droplet-associated perilipin A and B from the lipid droplet surface and thereby leads to accelerated lipolysis.
...
PMID:Okadaic Acid, a Bioactive Fatty Acid from Halichondria okadai, Stimulates Lipolysis in Rat Adipocytes: The Pivotal Role of Perilipin Translocation. 2431 76