Author:

Keywords:

Animals, Blastocyst, Bone Morphogenetic Proteins, Bone and Bones, Embryo, Embryonic and Fetal Development, Female, Fetus, Gene Expression, Gestational Age, Heart, Humans, In Situ Hybridization, Kidney, Limb Bud, Male, Mice, Myocardium, Organ Specificity, Protein Biosynthesis, Proteins, RNA, Messenger, Transcription, Genetic, Transforming Growth Factor beta, Science & Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Cell Biology, OSTEOGENIC PROTEIN-1 (BONE MORPHOGENETIC PROTEIN-7), TRANSFORMING GROWTH FACTOR-BETA SUPERFAMILY, HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, KIDNEY DEVELOPMENT, LIMB DEVELOPMENT, BONE, CARTILAGE, IN SITU HYBRIDIZATION, NORTHERN HYBRIDIZATION, GROWTH-FACTOR-BETA, TGF-BETA, INSITU HYBRIDIZATION, FOLLICULAR-FLUID, AXIAL MESODERM, MESSENGER-RNA, DIFFERENTIATION, SUPERFAMILY, XENOPUS, EMBRYOGENESIS, Bone Morphogenetic Protein 7, Embryo, Mammalian, Limb Buds, 06 Biological Sciences, 11 Medical and Health Sciences, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, 3101 Biochemistry and cell biology, 3404 Medicinal and biomolecular chemistry

Abstract:

Osteogenic protein-1 (OP-1; BMP-7) is a member of the bone morphogenetic protein subfamily. Because members of the TGF-beta superfamily have a role in tissue development, the distribution of OP-1 expression in developing human embryos (5-8 gestational weeks) and fetuses (8-14 gestational weeks) and mouse (9.5-17.5 gestational days) fetuses was examined. Northern hybridization with specific OP-1 probes revealed two mRNA species of 4 and 2.2 KB. Highest levels of OP-1 mRNA were found in human fetal kidney and heart between 12-14 weeks of gestation. By in situ hybridization, the OP-1 transcripts were found in various tissues, i.e., the ectodermal epithelium of the mouse fore- and hindlimbs, heart, teeth, intestinal epithelium, perichondrium, hypertrophic chondrocytes, and periosteum/osteoblast layer of developing human bones. In kidneys, transcripts were first detected in the epithelium of the branching uretheric buds, whereas at later stages glomeruli were the major site of OP-1 mRNA accumulation. These data suggest that, although OP-1 has been isolated from bone matrix, it may have additional regulatory roles in the morphogenesis and/or function of the kidney, limb bud, tooth, heart, and intestine.