Date of Award

1-1-2012

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Degree Name

M.S.

First Advisor

Nancy Lorenzon, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Joseph Angleson

Third Advisor

Robert M. Dores

Fourth Advisor

Dwight Smith

Keywords

Calcium, Estradiol, Lactotropes, Lactotrophs, MMQ

Abstract

Pituitary lactotrophs are excitable cells that exhibit spontaneous, calcium influx triggering prolactin (PRL) secretion to stimulate lactation. Lactotrophs express estrogen receptors (ER) and are a well established estrogen-responsive cell system. 17B-estradiol (E2) is known to directly affect lactotrophs by increasing PRL transcription and biosynthesis, intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) and PRL secretion. This study demonstrates that the MMQ clonal cell line, isolated from the 7315a rat pituitary tumor, is a model lactotroph cell line that is E2-responsive. Spontaneous and evoked Ca2+ transients were especially sensitive to L-type channel block, but not affected by block of omega-conotoxin-GVIA-sensitive CaV channels or TTX-sensitive voltage-gated Na+ (Nav) channels. A population of 17B-Estradiol-treated cells exhibited enhanced spontaneous Ca2+ oscillation amplitude and frequency and depolarization-evoked Ca2+ transients. E2 treatment significantly enhanced the Ca2+ response through dihydropyridine-sensitive voltage-gated Ca2+ (Cav) channels, suggesting that 17B-Estradiol increased L-type Ca2+ channel genomic expression.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Monika Pauckova

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

en

File Size

57 p.

Discipline

Biology

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