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Endocrinology Vol. 139, No. 6 2960-2970
Copyright © 1998 by The Endocrine Society

ARTICLES

Relaxin-Like Factor Expression as a Marker of Differentiation in the Mouse Testis and Ovary1

M. Balvers, A.-N. Spiess, R. Domagalski, N. Hunt, E. Kilic, A. K. Mukhopadhyay, E. Hanks, H. M. Charlton and R. Ivell

Institute for Hormone and Fertility Research (R.I., M.B., A.-N.S., R.D., N.H., E.K., A.K.M.), University of Hamburg, 22529 Hamburg, Germany; and Department of Human Anatomy (E.H., H.M.C.), University of Oxford, United Kingdom

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: R. Ivell, Institute for Hormone and Fertility Research, University of Hamburg, Grandweg 64, 22529 Hamburg, Germany.

Expression of the relaxin-like factor (RLF) was studied at the messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein levels in the testes and ovaries of the mouse, as well as through testicular development and differentiation in the mouse testis. In situ hybridization or RT-PCR, and immunohistochemistry using a polyclonal antibody raised against a recombinant protein, provided mutually confirmatory results for a high expression of RLF in the Leydig cells of the adult testis and at a much lower level of expression in the luteal cells of the ovary through the cycle, pregnancy, and in lactation. Analysis of protein and mRNA expression, through postnatal testicular development, indicated moderate RLF expression also in the fetal population of Leydig cells, even in the hpg mutant mouse, lacking an active pituitary-gonadal axis. Prepubertal Leydig cells, however, exhibit only very low-level RLF gene expression, this phenotype persisting in the adult hpg mouse. In summary, fetal Leydig cells express RLF in an LH/human CG-independent fashion, whereas LH/human CG is essential to induce RLF expression in the adult-type Leydig cell. In cultured adult Leydig cells or in the mouse tumor MA-10 cell line, RLF mRNA is expressed in a constitutive fashion. RLF thus seems to be a useful marker of Leydig cell differentiation status.




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