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Breed Differences in Expression of Inhibin/Activin Subunits in Porcine Anterior Pituitary Glands¹

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, RLH U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (M.D.L., J.J.F.), Clay Center, Nebraska 68933; Department of Neuroscience and Cell Biology, University of Medicine and Dentistry, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (G.J.M.), Piscataway,New Jersey 08854

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Dr. J. J. Ford, P.O. Box 166, Clay Center, Nebraska 68933. E-mail: ford{at}marcvm.marc.usda.gov

Chinese Meishan (MS) boars have greater plasma FSH concentrations than European White Composite boars, but this difference does not occur in females of these breeds. To understand this disparity, we studied expression of the follistatin gene and of genes for the inhibin/activin -, ß_A-, and ß_B-subunits in porcine anterior pituitary glands using quantitative reverse transcription-PCR and ribonuclease protection techniques. We found that 1) the inhibin/activin ß_A- and ß_B-subunits and follistatin were expressed in porcine pituitary; 2) the -subunit was not detected in the porcine pituitary, but was highly expressed in porcine follicles; and 3) the ß_B-subunit gene is more abundantly expressed (2-fold greater) in MS boar pituitaries than in pituitaries of White Composite boars. We conclude that this is not due to a breed difference, because the expression levels of this gene were similar in pituitaries of females of these breeds. No breed differences were detected for other genes screened in this study. From these observations, we propose that activin B, a dimer of ß_B-subunits and a stimulator of FSH secretion, may be partially responsible for the elevated plasma FSH concentrations in MS boars, and intrapituitary inhibin plays no or a very minimal role.

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