Agouti-Related Maturation and Tissue Distribution of α-Melanocyte Stimulating Hormone in Wild-Type (AwJ/AwJ) and Mutant (Ay/a, a/a) Mice

David G. Monroe, Loren P. Wipf, Maureen R. Diggins, Duane P. Matthees, Nels H. Granholm

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Because of ectopic overproduction of agouti protein, yellow alleles (Ay and Avy) of the murine agouti gene may secondarily modulate the synthesis, maturation (i.e., acetylation), and/or tissue deployment of α-Melanocyte Stimulating Hormone (MSH). We used HPLC to test the hypothesis that Ay/a mice exhibit altered concentrations of desacetyl-, monoacetyl-, and diacetyl-α-MSH in pituitaries, sera, and telogen hair bulbs when compared to black (a/a) mice. We also used RIA to measure total MSH in those same tissues of Ay/a, a/a, and white-bellied agouti (AwJ/AwJ) mice (Strain C57BL/6J). We found no evidence that Ayla mice possessed an imbalance of des-, mono-, and diacetylated α-MSH species. However, radioimmunoassay (RIA) analyses of total MSH suggest that wildtype agouti mice (AwJ/AwJ) exhibited significantly decreased (P < 0.05) tissue levels of total α-MSH in pituitaries, sera, and regenerating hair bulbs when compared to those of mutant Ay/a and a/a mice.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)310-313
Number of pages4
JournalPigment Cell Research
Volume11
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 1998

Keywords

  • Agouti alleles - A, a, A
  • Agouti locus
  • Agouti protein
  • Desacetyl-α-MSH (dMSH)
  • Melanogenesis
  • Monoacetyl-α-MSH (mMSH)

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Agronomy and Crop Science
  • Plant Science
  • Developmental Biology
  • Clinical Biochemistry
  • Cell Biology

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