Early onset of ghrelin production in a marsupial

BR Menzies; G Shaw; TP Fletcher; MB Renfree

Journal article

Early onset of ghrelin production in a marsupial

BR Menzies, G Shaw, TP Fletcher, MB Renfree

Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology | ELSEVIER IRELAND LTD | Published : 2009

DOI: 10.1016/j.mce.2008.10.033

Abstract

Ghrelin regulates appetite in mammals and can stimulate growth hormone (GH) release from the pituitary. In rats and humans, ghrelin cells appear in the stomach during late fetal life. Nevertheless, the role of ghrelin in early mammalian development is not well understood. Marsupials deliver highly altricial young that weigh less than 1 g so they must feed and digest milk at a comparatively immature stage of development. Since they complete their growth and differentiation while in the pouch, they are accessible models in which to determine the time course of ghrelin production during development. We examined the distribution of gastric ghrelin cells, plasma ghrelin concentrations and pituita..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Geoff Shaw Author

Marilyn Renfree Author

Grants

Funding Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Andrew Pask and Ms. Helen Gehring for advice and assistance with molecular aspects of the study and to Dr. Danielle Hickford for assistance with the immunohistochemistry. This work was supported by a Loftus-Hills Memorial grant to BRM and a Federation Fellowship to MBR.