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Epidermal Growth Factor Precursor in Mouse Lactating Mammary Gland Alveolar Cells

Laboratory of Biochemical Risk Analysis, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709
Laboratory of Reproductive and Developmental Toxicology, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709

Address requests for reprints to: Charles F. Brown, Mail Drop D4-04, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, P.O. Box 12233, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709.

Abstract

Previous studies have demonstrated that high levels of epidermal growth factor (EGF) occur in human and rodent milk and that oral administration of this polypeptide stimulates rodent gastrointestinal development. It is not known whether EGF in milk originates from cells of the lactating mammary gland or is sequestered from an extramammary source. In the present study, prepro-EGF mRNA (4.7 kilobases) was detected in the CD-1 mouse mammary gland throughout the period of lactation; by comparison, negligible levels of this EGF transcript were found in the gland during pregnancy. Low levels of EGF immunoreactivity (4–5 ng/g wet wt tissue) were extracted from lactating (day 18) mammary glands with dilute acetic acid. Immunolocalization was evident with antisera to either EGF or two other regions of the EGF precursor in essentially all alveolar cells of the lactating gland. The most prominent staining with antiserum to EGF was observed along the luminal borders of cells; this pattern of cellular staining required proteolytic pretreatment of tissue sections. Western blot analyses of cell membranes isolated from the day 16 lactating mammary gland revealed an EGF-immunoreactive band at about 145K, which was equivalent in size to the EGF precursor found in mouse kidney cell membranes. Despite these findings, labeling of lactating mammary gland mince with L-[³⁵S]methionine and cysteine for up to 4 h did not reveal any specific bands in immunoprecipitates.

These cumulative findings suggest that the precursor form of EGF occurs in alveolar cells of lactating mammary gland and that this protein is translocated to the cell membrane. We propose that milk EGF originates from the processing of the alveolar cell membrane-bound precursor. Since negligible cell proliferation occurs in the fully developed lactating gland, it is unlikely that milk EGF functions as a mitogen for the mammary gland at this stage of differentiation. Rather, milk EGF may have an extra-mammary role in the development of the gastrointestinal tract and perhaps other organs of the neonate.

Received for publication January 23, 1989. Revision received March 22, 1989. Accepted for publication April 4, 1989.

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