[Detection of estrogen receptor messenger ribonucleic acid in normal and ovariectomized rat bone]

Using ovariectomized female SD rats (OVX) as animal osteoporosis models, RNA samples were extracted directly from rat bone. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to examine the estrogen receptor (ER) messenger RNA (mRNA) level of expression in normal and OVX rat bone tissue. Results demonstrated that the rat ER gene is expressed in normal rat bone. DNA sequencing showed 300 bases sequence. We found that the OVX rats showed a sharp decrease in ER mRNA level when estrogen was reduced after ovariectomy and the expression of bone ER mRNA increased during estradiol therapy, suggesting that the expression of bone ER mRNA relies upon the level of estrogen. In addition, ER plays a very important role in the pathogenesis by means of its gene regulatory functions.