Emerging evidence of the physiological role of hypoxia in mammary development and lactation

作     者：Yong Shao Feng-Qi Zhao 

作者机构：Laboratory of Lactation and Metabolic PhysiologyDepartment of Animal ScienceUniversity of Vermont 

出 版 物：《Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology》 (畜牧与生物技术杂志（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2014年第5卷第3期

页      面：262-272页

核心收录：

学科分类：090601[农学-基础兽医学] 09[农学] 0906[农学-兽医学] 

基　　金：supported by National Research Initiative Competitive grant 2007-35206-18037 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture(to FQZ) 

主　　题：Glucose transporter Hypoxia Hypoxia inducible factor Lactation Mammary development Metabolism 

摘      要：Hypoxia is a physiological or pathological condition of a deficiency of oxygen supply in the body as a whole or within a tissue. During hypoxia, tissues undergo a series of physiological responses to defend themselves against a low oxygen supply, including increased angiogenesis, erythropoiesis, and glucose uptake. The effects of hypoxia are mainly mediated by hypoxia-inducible factor 1 （HIF-1）, which is a heterodimeric transcription factor consisting of o and 13 subunits. HIF-1β is constantly expressed, whereas HIF-1α is degraded under normal oxygen conditions. Hypoxia stabilizes HIF-1α and the HIF complex, and HIF then translocates into the nucleus to initiate the expression of target genes. Hypoxia has been extensively studied for its role in promoting tumor progression, and emerging evidence also indicates that hypoxia may play important roles in physiological processes, including mammary development and lactation. The mammary gland exhibits an increasing metabolic rate from pregnancy to lactation to support mammary growth, lactogenesis, and lactation. This process requires increasing amounts of oxygen consumption and results in localized chronic hypoxia as confirmed by the binding of the hypoxia marker pimonidazole HCI in mouse mammary gland. We hypothesized that this hypoxic condition promotes mammary development and lactation, a hypothesis that is supported by the following several lines of evidence： i） Mice with an HIF-1α deletion selective for the mammary gland have impaired mammary differentiation and lipid secretion, resulting in lactation failure and striking changes in milk compositions; ii） We recently observed that hypoxia significantly induces HIF-1α- dependent glucose uptake and GLUT1 expression in mammary epithelial cells, which may be responsible for the dramatic increases in glucose uptake and GLUT1 expression in the mammary gland during the transition period from late pregnancy to early lactation; and iii） Hypoxia and HIF-1α increase the phospho