LUTEINIZING-HORMONE INCREASES THE ABUNDANCE OF VARIOUS TRANSCRIPTS, INDEPENDENTLY OF THE ANDROGENS, IN THE RAT PROSTATE

Differential display analysis was carried out to find, in the rat pros tate, genes that could be regulated by Luteinizing Hormone (LH), indep endently of the androgens. Hypophysectomized and castrated adult rats were treated with either LH, testosterone or saline. Regulated discret e bands have been eluted and reamplified. After Northern blotting, the levels of mRNA corresponding to 8 PCR fragments were significantly in creased by LH treatment. None of these inserts were found to be induce d by testosterone. One insert was subcloned, sequenced and identified as the ribosomial protein S 23. A competitive RT-PCR assay was carried out on the full length S 23 cDNA and confirmed that its mRNA levels w ere stimulated by LH but not by testosterone. These results strongly s uggest that the LH membrane receptor, previously shown to be expressed in the rat prostate, has a physiological significance in this organ. Moreover, it appears that the effect of LH on the rat prostate are ind ependent of the androgens. (C) 1997 Academic Press.