Induction of vitellogenin synthesis by estrogen in avian liver: relationship between level of vitellogenin mRNA and vitellogenin synthesis.

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Abstract
The estrogen-mediated induction of vitellogenin synthesis was studied in rooster liver. The concentrations of vitellogenin mRNA in the liver were compared with the concentrations of vitellogenin in the sera of roosters that had received various treatments with estrogen. No vitellogenin mRNA was found in the livers of the unstimulated roosters. An initial injection of estrogen was attended by de novo synthesis of vitellogenin mRNA in the liver and accumulation of vitellogenin in the serum. When vitellogenin was no longer present in the serum or liver (the post-estrogen-serum-negative state), the liver was found to contain appreciable amounts of vitellogenin mRNA. This mRNA was of the same size as that found in the liver of the rooster actively synthesizing vitellogenin in response to estrogen. Whereas vitellogenin mRNA was in large polysomes in the livers of the roosters actively synthesizing vitellogenin, the vitellogenin mRNA in the liver of the post-estrogen-serum-negative rooster was not associated with polysomes. The possible relevance of these findings to the fact that the rooster responds differently to a primary stimulation with estrogen than to subsequent stimulations is discussed.