PANCREATIC GAPDH GENE-EXPRESSION DURING ONTOGENY AND ACUTE-PANCREATITIS INDUCED BY CERULEIN

Recent studies indicated that expression of the housekeeping gene GAPD H is highly regulated during proliferation and differentiation. The ob jective of this study was to characterize by Northern blot the GAPDH m RNA expression in rat pancreas development and regeneration following acute pancreatitis induction by caerulein. Pancreatic GAPDH mRNA level s were the highest between fetal day 19 and the 11 postnatal day; they decreased to their lowest level after weaning on day 26. In acute pan creatitis, GAPDH mRNA levels were clearly increased 18 h after its ini tiation, were maximal during the first two days of induction and then decreased to control values after 9 days. These data demonstrate that overexpression of GAPDH may be implicated in pancreatic development, m aturation and pancreas regeneration after acute pancreatitis. (C) 1997 Academic Press.