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The Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone Gene Is Regulated by Thyroid Hormone at the Level of Transcription in Vivo

Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Diabetes, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02215

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Anthony N. Hollenberg, M.D., Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 330 Brookline Avenue, E/CLS-0738, Boston, Massachusetts 02215. E-mail: thollenb{at}bidmc.harvard.edu.

The expression of the TRH gene in the paraventricular nucleus (PVH) of the hypothalamus is required for the normal production of thyroid hormone (TH) in rodents and humans. In addition, the regulation of TRH mRNA expression by TH, specifically in the PVH, ensures tight control of the set point of the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis. Although many studies have assumed that the regulation of TRH expression by TH is at the level of transcription, there is little data available to demonstrate this. We used two in vivo model systems to show this. In the first model system, we developed an in situ hybridization (ISH) assay directed against TRH heteronuclear RNA to measure TRH transcription directly in vivo. We show that in the euthyroid state, TRH transcription is present both in the PVH and anterior/lateral hypothalamus. In the hypothyroid state, transcription is activated in the PVH only and can be shut off within 5 h by TH. In the second model system, we employed transgenic mice that express the Cre recombinase under the control of the genomic region containing the TRH gene. Remarkably, TH regulates Cre expression in these mice in the PVH only. Taken together, these data affirm that TH regulates TRH at the level of transcription in the PVH only and that genomic elements surrounding the TRH gene mediate its regulation by T₃. Thus, it should be possible to identify the elements within the TRH locus that mediate its regulation by T₃ using in vivo approaches.