Publication: Early acquisition of bowel segment-specific Bcl-2 homolog expression profiles during
development of the human ileum and colon
Authors
Vachon, P.H. ; Cardin, E. ; Harnois, C. ; Reed, J.C. ; Plourde, A. ; Vézina, A.
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Publisher
Murcia : F. Hernández
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DOI
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info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Description
Abstract
The adult small and large intestines display
distinct expression profiles of Bcl-2 homologs, known
regulators of apoptosis. This is thought to indicate that
control mechanisms of intestinal apoptosis are gut
segment-specific. Little is known on the expression of
Bcl-2 homologs during gut development. In man,
intestinal features and functions are acquired largely by
mid-gestation (18-20 wks); the question whether
segment-specific controls of intestinal apoptosis are also
acquired early during development remains open. In the
present study, we approached this by investigating the
expression of six Bcl-2 homologs (Bcl-2, Bcl-XL, Mcl-
1, Bax, Bak, Bad), and one nonhomologous associated
molecule (Bag-1), during development of the human
ileum and colon (12-20 wks of gestation). Beginning at
18 wks, we found that the epithelial localization of Bcl-2
homologs displayed differential patterns (or gradients) in
both the ileum and colon; however, the patterns of some
of the homologs differed between the two segrnents. For
instance, Bag-1 and Bcl-2 exhibited crypt-villus
decreasing gradients of expression in the ileum but not
in the colon, whereas Mcl-1 displayed differing
compartimentalizations between the two segments.
Further analyses indicated that the steady-state
expression levels of Bcl-2 homologs underwent
modulations between 12 and 20 wks; however, the
obsewed developmental profiles contrasted significantly
between the two segments. For example, Bcl-2, Bag-1
and Bak levels increased in the colon, but the levels of
these same homo.logs decreased in the ileum.
Furthermore, by 18-20 wks, we found that the
expression levels of each Bcl-2 homolog analyzed
differed greatly between the ileum and colon.
Altogether, these data indicate that the expression of Bcl-2 homologs is modulated differentially during
human gut development in order to establish, by midgestation,
distinct expression profiles for the small and
large intestines. This in turn suggests that gut segmentspecific
control mechanisms of human intestinal
apoptosis are acquired early during fetal life.
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