Detection of prolactin receptor (PRL-R) mRNA in the rat hypothalamus and pituitary gland

Prolactin receptor (PRL-R) mRNAs exist in several tissues where prolactin is known to act including the liver, testes, prostate, ovary, mammary gland, adrenal gland and kidney. PRL also acts at the level of the hypothalamus and pituitary gland to feed back and regulate its own secretion and the secretion of other anterior pituitary hormones. Therefore, we hypothesized that PRL-R mRNA would exist in these target tissues as well. Total RNA was extracted from rat anterior and medial basal hypothalamus, anterior and posterior pituitary gland, cerebral cortex, skeletal muscle and liver. After reverse transcribing total RNA with Murine-MLV reverse transcriptase and random or oligo(dT) prmers, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed. PCR products were then analyzed by ethidium bromide staining. Using primers that flanked the coding region for the extracellular binding domain we detected PRL-R mRNA in the anterior and medial basal hypothalamus, anterior and posterior pituitary gland, as well as in the liver, but not in the cerebral cortex or skeletal muscle. In addition, when we used primers that distinguish the long and short forms of the PRL-R mRNA, both forms of the PRL-R mRNA were detectable in the same tissues. Our data suggest that PRL may feed back at the level of the hypothalamus and pituitary gland through the same short and/or long PRL-R mRNA that mediate PRL action in the peripheral tissues.