Oxytocin and vasopressin gene expression during gestation and lactation

Levels of rat hypothalamic oxytocin (OT) and vasopressin (AVP) mRNA were determined during gestation and lactation using a densitometric hybridization assay. Pregnancy induced a gradual rise in OT mRNA, reaching, by day 18, a level exceeding control by a factor of 2.5. Throughout the lactation period OT mRNA remained elevated at levels corresponding to 3 times that of control. Surprisingly, the dynamics of AVP mRNA accumulation paralleled closely the profile observed for OT mRNA throughout the time period studied. We conclude that in late pregnancy and lactation the expression of both, the OT and the AVP gene is stimulated in parallel by mechanisms operating at a pretranslational level, involving increased gene transcription or mRNA stabilization, or both. Further characterization of the two mRNA species revealed that both mRNAs are endowed with very long poly(A) tails of greater than 200 nucleotides, under conditions of both, normal and stimulated states of gene expression. The role, if any, of the prolonged poly(A) tails in mRNA stability remains to be determined.