Insulin plays an important role in regulating the partitioning of nutrients to the mammary gland, particularly in lactating ruminants fed concentrate-based diets. There is evidence that the nutritional status of the animals might also affect their response to insulin. This is largely untested in early lactating ruminants fed fresh forage. To investigate nutritional effects on insulin response, ...

Among all tissues and organs, the mammary gland is unique because most of its development occurs in adulthood. Notch signaling has a major role in mammary gland development and has been implicated in breast cancer. The vacuolar-ATPase (V-ATPase) is a proton pump responsible for the regulation and control of pH in intracellular vesicles and the extracellular milieu. We have previously reported t...

Breast involution following pregnancy has been implicated in the high rates of metastasis observed in postpartum breast cancers; however, it is not clear how this remodeling process promotes metastasis. Here, we demonstrate that human postpartum breast cancers have increased peritumor lymphatic vessel density that correlates with increased frequency of lymph node metastases. Moreover, lymphatic...

BACKGROUND MicroRNA (miRNA) are negative regulators of gene expression, capable of exerting pronounced influences upon the translation and stability of mRNA. They are potential regulators of normal mammary gland development and of the maintenance of mammary epithelial progenitor cells. This study was undertaken to determine the role of miR-30b on the establishment of a functional mouse mammary ...

Zatloukal J . , J . Lorenzová, F. Tich ̆, A. Neãas, H. Kecová, P. Kohout: Breed and Age as Risk Factors for Canine Mammary Tumours. Acta Vet. Brno 2005, 74: 103-109. Mammary tumours in 214 dogs were evaluated at the Department of Surgery and Orthopaedics, Veterinary and Pharmaceutical University Brno, between 1997 and 2001. Lesions of the mammary gland were classified as dysplasia/hyperplasia, b...

MicroRNAs are differentially expressed in breast cancer cells and have been implicated in cancer formation, tumour invasion and metastasis. We investigated the miRNA expression profiles in the developing mammary gland. MiR-137 was expressed prominently in the developing mammary gland. When the miR-137 was over-expressed in the embryo, the mammary epithelium became thickened. Moreover, genes ass...

Postnatal mammary gland morphogenesis is achieved through coordination of signaling networks in both the epithelial and stromal cells of the developing gland. While the major proliferative hormones driving pubertal mammary gland development are estrogen and progesterone, studies in transgenic and knockout mice have successfully identified other steroid and peptide hormones that impact on mammar...

The lactating mammary gland utilizes free plasma amino acids as well as those derived by hydrolysis from circulating short-chain peptides for protein synthesis. Apart from the major route of amino acid nitrogen delivery to the gland by the various transporters for free amino acids, it has been suggested that dipeptides may also be taken up in intact form to serve as a source of amino acids. The...

Mammary gland tumors are very rare in male dogs. In this study, four mammary gland tumors from 3 male dogs (2 intact, 1 neutered) were collected from local animal hospitals. The dogs included two purebred Shih Tzu (1 intact, 1 neutered) and one intact purebred Cocker Spaniel. The mean age of dogs with mammary gland tumors was 9 years (5-12 years). Two dogs had a solitary mass, whereas one dog h...

Epithelial cells from mammary gland tissue that are cultured in vitro are able to maintain specific functions of this gland, such as cellular differentiation and milk protein synthesis. These characteristics make these cells a useful model to study mammary gland physiology, development and differentiation; they can also be used for production of exogenous proteins of pharmaceutical interest. Bo...