A RECENTLY cloned neurotrophic factor, Glial Cell Line-Derived Neurotr
ophic Factor (GDNF), has been implicated in the survival and morpholog
ical and functional differentiation of midbrain dopaminergic neurones
in vitro. GDNF has therefore been proposed as a factor which may have
utility in the treatment of Parkinson's disease. In the present study,
we have used RT-PCR to analyse the distribution of GDNF mRNA througho
ut the newborn rat (PO). We show that GDNF transcripts are present in
kidney, lung, bone, heart, liver, spleen, sciatic nerve and blood. Two
separate GDNF transcripts are present in different ratios in each tis
sue investigated. Sequence analysis of both these mRNA species reveale
d that the shorter transcript (sGDNF) contains a deletion of 78 bp in
comparison to the published sequence for GDNF. We speculate that this
shorter mRNA arose due to alternative splicing.