Characterization and expression of the bovine growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) receptor

The hypothalamic hormone, growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) and its pituitary receptor are principal regulators of pituitary growth hormone (GH) synthesis and release. In the present study, we cloned and sequenced a complete bovine pituitary GHRH receptor cDNA in order to study its expression in cattle. The lengths of the exons in the bovine GHRH receptor gene were determined by comparison of the cloned cDNA with genomic sequences obtained from a bovine genomic library clone. As in other species, the bovine cDNA sequence encodes a 423-amino acid protein containing seven hydrophobic domains characteristic of a G protein-coupled receptor. The predicted bovine amino acid sequence shares 93, 90, 89, 87, and 85% identity with the ovine, porcine, human, rat and mouse sequences, respectively. Expression of the receptor in bovine ileum, ovary, anterior pituitary, testis, hypothalamus, pancreas and liver was examined by RT-PCR. Of those tissues examined, GHRH receptor expression was detected in the anterior pituitary gland and hypothalamus. To gain a better understanding of GHRH receptor gene regulation in ruminants, we examined the effect of bovine somatotropin (bST) treatment on pituitary GHRH receptor expression in dairy heifers using relative and real-time RT-PCR. In the present study, bST treatment of dairy heifers resulted in no significant decline in pituitary GHRH receptor expression.