Murine FSH production depends on the activin type II receptors ACVR2A and ACVR2B.

Murine FSH production depends on the activin type II receptors ACVR2A and ACVR2B. Endocrinology. 2020 Apr 09;: Authors: Schang G, Ongaro L, Schultz H, Wang Y, Zhou X, Brûlé E, Boehm U, Lee SJ, Bernard DJ Abstract Activins are selective regulators of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) production by pituitary gonadotrope cells. In a gonadotrope-like cell line, LβT2, activins stimulate FSH via the activin type IIA receptor (ACVR2A) and/or bone morphogenetic protein type II receptor (BMPR2). Consistent with these observations, FSH is greatly reduced, though still present, in global Acvr2a knockout mice. In contrast, FSH production is unaltered in gonadotrope-specific Bmpr2 knockout mice. In light of these results, we questioned whether an additional type II receptor might mediate the actions of activins or related TGFβ ligands in gonadotropes. We focused on the activin type IIB receptor (ACVR2B), even though it does not mediate activin actions in the gonadotrope-like cell line. Using a Cre-lox strategy, we ablated Acvr2a and/or Acvr2b in murine gonadotropes. The resulting conditional knockout (cKO) animals were compared to littermate controls. Acvr2a cKO (cKO-A) females were subfertile (~70% reduced litter size), cKO-A males were hypogonadal, and both sexes showed marked decreases in serum FSH levels compared to controls. Acvr2b cKO (cKO-B) females were subfertile (~20% reduced litter size), cKO-B males had a moderate decrease in tes...
Source: Endocrinology - Category: Endocrinology Authors: Tags: Endocrinology Source Type: research