This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Copyright Permission Google Scholar Articles by Wiater, E. Articles by Vale, W. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Wiater, E. Articles by Vale, W.

Endogenous Betaglycan Is Essential for High-Potency Inhibin Antagonism in Gonadotropes

Clayton Foundation Laboratories for Peptide Biology, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, California 92037

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Wylie Vale, Peptide Biology Laboratories, The Salk Institute, 10010 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, California 92037. E-mail: vale{at}salk.edu.

Inhibins are endocrine hormones that regulate gametogenesis and reproduction through a negative feedback loop with FSH. Inhibin action involves antagonism of signaling by activin or other TGFβ family ligands. In transfection assays, antagonism by inhibin can be potentiated by betaglycan, a coreceptor for selected TGFβ family ligands. We tested whether betaglycan is an obligate inhibin coreceptor through disruption of betaglycan function by RNA interference-mediated knockdown and immunoneutralization. Betaglycan knockdown and anti-betaglycan IgG each independently prevented inhibin-A binding to betaglycan and reversed functional effects of transfected betaglycan. Neither betaglycan immunoneutralization nor knockdown affected activin responsiveness in cell lines or in rat anterior pituitary cultures. Betaglycan knockdown decreased the potency of inhibin antagonism of activin-induced FSH secretion in primary gonadotropes. Similarly, anti-betaglycan IgG decreased the potency of inhibin antagonism in primary gonadotropes in a dose-dependent manner, with a reduction in the sensitivity to inhibin-A of greater than 1000-fold. These data establish that betaglycan is an endogenous inhibin coreceptor required for high-sensitivity inhibin antagonism of activin signaling in rat anterior pituitary gonadotropes.