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Updated: Aug 1, 2026

An Ex vivo Culture System to Study Thyroid Development
Published on: June 6, 2014
Thyroid hormone receptor expression in rat placenta
A J Leonard1, I M Evans, M R Pickard
1Division of Molecular Endocrinology, UCL Medical School, Mortimer Street, London W1N 8AA, UK.
Abstract:
The expression of c- erbAalpha and -beta encoded thyroid hormone receptors (TR) was investigated in rat placenta between 16 and 21 days of gestation (dg), and in fetal liver and brain at 16 dg, using semi-quantitative RT-PCR and nuclear 3,5,3'-triiodothyronine (T(3)) binding. TRalpha1, TRbeta1, c- erbAalpha 2 and c- erbAalpha 3 mRNA abundance was unchanged in placenta between 16 and 21 dg, as was the dissociation constant (K(d)) of T(3) binding. The maximal T(3) binding capacity (B(max)) in placenta doubled over this period, suggesting placental TR binding activity is post-transcriptionally regulated. Transcript abundance in tissues at 16 dg can be summarized: TRalpha1, placenta=fetal liver
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