Pancreatic GAPDH gene expression during ontogeny and acute pancreatitis induced by caerulein

Recent studies indicated that expression of the housekeeping gene GAPDH is highly regulated during proliferation and differentiation. The objective of this study was to characterize by Northern blot the GAPDH mRNA expression in rat pancreas development and regeneration following acute pancreatitis induction by caerulein. Pancreatic GAPDH mRNA levels were the highest between fetal day 19 and the 11 postnatal day; they decreased to their lowest level after weaning on day 26. In acute pancreatitis, GAPDH mRNA levels were clearly increased 18 h after its initiation, were maximal during the first two days of induction and then decreased to control values after 9 days. These data demonstrate that overexpression of GAPDH may be implicated in pancreatic development, maturation and pancreas regeneration after acute pancreatitis.