Retinal Growth Hormone: An Autocrine/paracrine in the Developing Chick Retina

• Author / Creator

  Lin, Wan-Ying

• The developing chick retina is an extrapituitary site of growth hormone (GH) synthesis and action. GH, GH receptor (GHR) and their mRNAs are present in the neural retina when the neural cells are undergoing proliferation and differentiation during early embryogenesis. It is thus likely that GH acts as an autocrine or paracrine in this location. The present study shows that intra-vitreal injection of a chick GH (cGH) small interfering RNA (siRNA) into the eyes of early embryos [embryonic day (ED) 4] suppresses GH expression in the neural retina and increases the incidence of spontaneous retinal cell death. Our current work also demonstrates a reduction of local IGF-1 expression after retinal GH gene knockdown, suggesting that GH action in retinal cells is regulated through IGF-1 signalling. These results demonstrate that retinal GH is an autocrine/paracrine hormone that acts as a neuroprotective factor in the retina of chick embryos.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Autocrine
  • Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1)
  • Cell apoptosis
  • Paracrine
  • Growth hormone (GH)

• Graduation date

  Spring 2011

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3ZW6S

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.