Effects of Genistein and Estrogen Receptor Subtype-Specific Agonists in ArKO Mice Following Different Administration Routes

Anja Bliedtner , Oliver Zierau , Steffen Albrecht , Stefanie Liebhaber , Günter Vollmer

We have scrutinized the effects of the phytoestrogen genistein and three synthetic estrogen receptor agonists, 17α-ethynylestradiol (EE), propylpyrazole-triol (PPT) and diarylpropionitrile (DPN) in the completely estrogen-free background of aromatase knockout (ArKO) mice by means of two routes of substance administration: via diet (; po) or subcutaneous injection (sc) with the intention to evaluate the ArKO mice as sensitive model organism for uterotrophic assays. Additionally, we were aiming to qualitatively analyze effects resulting from oral administration path, in particular for PPT and DPN. Therefore, we analyzed the resulting uterine wet weights (UWW) and epithelial heights as physiological endpoints of function as well as the gonadotropin levels. Moreover, the gene expression profiles of estrogen receptors as well as important uterine and ovarian estrogen-response genes were investigated by real-time PCR.

Mots clés: ArKO mice; estrogen receptors; ER-subtype-selective ligands; uterotrophic assay; genistein

Anja Bliedtner, Oliver Zierau, Steffen Albrecht, Stefanie Liebhaber, Günter Vollmer. Effects of Genistein and Estrogen Receptor Subtype-Specific Agonists in ArKO Mice Following Different Administration Routes. Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology, 2009, 314 (1), pp.41. ⟨10.1016/j.mce.2009.07.032⟩. ⟨hal-00529006⟩