Temporal and tissue-specific patterns of Pon3 expression in mouse: in situ hybridization analysis

PON3 is a member of the paraoxonase gene family that includes PON1 and PON2. For example, PON3 and PON1 share approximately 60% identity at the amino acid level. Recent studies have demonstrated that PON3 is present in human and rabbit HDL but not in mouse HDL. Mouse PON3 appears to be cell-associated and is expressed in a wide range of tissues such as liver, adipose, macrophage, and the artery wall. In vitro studies have shown that PON3 can prevent LDL oxidation and destroy bacterial quorum-sensing molecules. Previous studies also showed that human PON3 transgenic mice were protected from obesity and atherosclerosis in both the C57BL/6 J wild-type and LDLR knockout genetic background. Administration of adenovirus expressing the human PON3 gene into apoE -/- mice also decreased atherosclerotic lesion formation. In order to further understand the functions of PON3 in physiology and disease, we performed in situ hybridization analysis to examine Pon3 gene expression patterns in newborn and adult mice, in various tissues, including atherosclerotic lesions of apoE -/- mice. Our results show relatively high levels of Pon3 mRNA labeling in the adrenal gland, submaxillary gland, lung, liver, adipose, pancreas, large intestine, and other tissues of newborn mice. In the adult mouse, Pon3 mRNA levels were much lower in the corresponding tissues as mentioned above for the newborn mouse. Sections of the aortic root from the hearts of both wild-type and apoE -/- mice displayed moderate levels of Pon3 mRNA labeling. Pon3 mRNA was also detected in the atherosclerotic lesion areas at the aortic root of apoE -/- hearts. Our data revealed that mouse Pon3 is expressed in a wide range of tissues, and that its expression is temporally controlled.