Publication Date:
1983-04-15
Description:
The kidney, and to a slight extent the liver, of human fetuses were found to synthesize and secrete the alpha subunit common to glycoprotein hormones. Fetal lung and muscle did not synthesize this protein. Since fetal kidney and liver were previously found to synthesize beta chorionic gonadotropin, their ability to synthesize bioactive chorionic gonadotropin was also determined. The newly synthesized hormone bound to mouse Leydig cells and elicited a biological response: namely, the synthesis of testosterone. These results suggest that the human fetus may participate in metabolic homeostasis during its development.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉McGregor, W G -- Kuhn, R W -- Jaffe, R B -- HD08478/HD/NICHD NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 1983 Apr 15;220(4594):306-8.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6682243" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Animals
;
Chorionic Gonadotropin/*biosynthesis
;
Fetus/*metabolism
;
Humans
;
Kidney/embryology
;
Leydig Cells/metabolism
;
Liver/embryology
;
Luteinizing Hormone/biosynthesis
;
Male
;
Mice
;
Placenta/metabolism
;
Testosterone/biosynthesis
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
