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Sex-differential expression of ornithine aminotransferase in the mouse kidney

¹Université Claude Bernard Lyon I, Faculté de Médecine Lyon RTH Laennec, Laboratoire de Physiopathologie Métabolique et Rénale, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM) U 499, Lyon; ²Laboratoire de Biologie de la Nutrition, EA 2488, Faculté de Pharmacie, Paris; ³Hospices Civils de Lyon: Service de Radioanalyse, Centre de Médecine Nucléaire, Hôpital Neuro-Cardiologique and INSERM Equipe Mixte de Recherche 0322, Lyon; ⁴Grup de Fisiopatologia Renal, Centre d'Investigacions en Bioquímíca y Biología Molecular, Institut de Recerca Vall d'Hebron, Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona, Spain; and ⁵Hôtel-Dieu, Service de Biochimie, Assistance Publique des Hôpitaux de Paris, Paris, France

Submitted 17 October 2006 ; accepted in final form 21 November 2006

The mouse kidney expresses the gene of ornithine aminotransferase (Oat). Previous works suggest that Oat is differentially expressed in female and male mouse kidney (Alonso E, Rubio V. Biochem J 259: 131–138, 1989; Levillain O, Diaz JJ, Blanchard O, Dechaud H. Endocrinology 146: 950–959, 2005; Manteuffel-Cymborowska M, Chmurzynska W, Peska M, Grzelakowska-Sztabert B. Int J Biochem Cell Biol 27: 287–295, 1995; Natesan S, Reddy SR. Comp Biochem Physiol B Biochem Mol Biol 130: 585–595, 2001; Yu H, Yoo PK, Aguirre CC, Tsoa RW, Kern RM, Grody WW, Cederbaum SD, Iyer RK. J Histochem Cytochem 51: 1151–1160, 2003). This study was designed to provide a detailed description of the sexual dimorphism of Oat expression in the mouse kidney and to test the influence of sex hormones on its regulation. Experiments were performed on male and female Swiss OF1 mice during their postnatal development, at adulthood, and in orchidectomized and ovariectomized mice. Kidneys, dissected renal zones, and mitochondria were used to analyze OAT mRNA and protein levels and measure OAT activity. The results revealed that before puberty, Oat expression was similar between female and male kidneys whereas from puberty until adulthood Oat expression increased in the female kidney, becoming 2.5-fold higher than in the male kidney. This sex-differential expression of Oat was associated with a sex-specific distribution of Oat along the corticopapillary axis and within the nephron. OAT was three- to fourfold more expressed in the female than the male cortex. In males, Oat was highly expressed in the medulla, mainly in the thick ascending limbs. Renal Oat distribution in orchidectomized mice resembled that in the females. Ovariectomy did not influence Oat expression. Sex differences are explained by the physiological increase in plasma testosterone in males. Expression of medium-chain acyl-CoA synthetase protein confirmed this finding. We report sexual dimorphism of Oat expression in the mouse kidney and show that Oat is naturally downregulated in the presence of testosterone.

gene expression; testosterone; postnatal development; renal zones; Ascm; castration; male; female