The Expression Pattern of HIPK2 During Mouse Eye Development

Abstract

Abstract: : Purpose: Homeodomain interacting protein kinase(HIPK)–2 acts as a transcriptional co–repressor of homeoproteins (Kim YH, et al. J Biol Chem 1998), and is expressed in the late embryonic neural retina (Pierantoni GM, et al. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2002). However, its stage–dependent expression has not been well clarified. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the expression pattern of HIPK2 during eye development. Methods: To examine the HIPK2 expression pattern, total RNA was extracted from neural retina at E14, P0, P5, or P12, and RT–PCR analysis were performed by using specific primer pairs which can distinguish HIPK2 isoforms, HIPK2a and HIPK2b, on each stage. To localize HIPK2 expression, immunohistochemical analysis and in situ hybridization were performed on eye tissue obtained from each stage. Results: In the RT–PCR analysis,HIPK2a is expressed equally on each stage. In contrast, HIPK2b is strongly expressed at E14 and P0, subsided at P5, and diminished at P12. In the immunohistochemical analysis and in situ hybridization, HIPK2 is localized to the central inner neuroretina at E14 and ganglion cell layer at P0. Conclusions: HIPK2 showed stage–specific localization during retinogenesis, suggesting that HIPK2 is implicated in the development of the neuroretina.

Keywords: retinal development • in situ hybridization • immunohistochemistry