Journal article
Essential role for a novel population of binucleated mammary epithelial cells in lactation
AC Rios, NY Fu, PR Jamieson, B Pal, L Whitehead, KR Nicholas, GJ Lindeman, JE Visvader
Nature Communications | NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP | Published : 2016
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11400
Open access
Abstract
The mammary gland represents a unique tissue to study organogenesis as it predominantly develops in the post-natal animal and undergoes dramatic morphogenetic changes during puberty and the reproductive cycle. The physiological function of the mammary gland is to produce milk to sustain the newborn. Here we view the lactating gland through three-dimensional confocal imaging of intact tissue. We observed that the majority of secretory alveolar cells are binucleated. These cells first arise in very late pregnancy due to failure of cytokinesis and are larger than mononucleated cells. Augmented expression of Aurora kinase-A and Polo-like kinase-1 at the lactogenic switch likely mediates the form..
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Awarded by National Breast Cancer Foundation
Funding Acknowledgements
We are very grateful to J. Petersen and C. Ormandy for discussions, F. Jackling, M. Le Page, J. Szarlat, K. Liu, J. Sharp, F. Vaillant and A.T.L. Lun for expert assistance and the Animal, FACS, Imaging and Histology facilities at WEHI and to the Victorian Cancer Biobank (supported by the Victorian State Government), which provided coded breast tissue. This work was supported by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) grants #1016701, #1085191 and #1086727; NHMRC IRIISS; the Victorian State Government through Victorian Cancer Agency funding and Operational Infrastructure Support; and the Australian Cancer Research Foundation. A.C.R. and N.Y.F. were supported by a National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF)/Cure Cancer Australia Fellowship; G.J.L. by a NHMRC Fellowship #1078730 and J.E.V. by an Australia Fellowship #1037230.