Swilley, CodyLin, YuZheng, YuzeXu, XiguangLiu, MinZimmerman, KurtXie, Hehuang2023-07-282023-07-282023-07-06Swilley, C.; Lin, Y.; Zheng, Y.; Xu, X.; Liu, M.; Zimmerman, K.; Xie, H. Sex-Linked Growth Disorder and Aberrant Pituitary Gene Expression in Nestin-Cre-Mediated Egr1 Conditional Knockout Mice. Biology 2023, 12, 966.http://hdl.handle.net/10919/115937Genes that regulate hormone release are essential for maintaining metabolism and energy balance. <i>Egr1</i> encodes a transcription factor that regulates hormone production and release, and a decreased in growth hormones has been reported in <i>Egr1</i> knockout mice. A reduction in growth hormones has also been observed in Nestin-Cre mice, a model frequently used to study the nervous system. Currently, it is unknown how <i>Egr1</i> loss or the Nestin-Cre driver disrupt pituitary gene expression. Here, we compared the growth curves and pituitary gene expression profiles of Nestin-Cre-mediated <i>Egr1</i> conditional knockout (<i>Egr1</i>cKO) mice with those of their controls. Reduced body weight was observed in both the Nestin-Cre and <i>Egr1</i>cKO mice, and the loss of <i>Egr1</i> had a slightly more severe impact on female mice than on male mice. RNA-seq data analyses revealed that the sex-related differences were amplified in the Nestin-Cre-mediated <i>Egr1</i> conditional knockout mice. Additionally, in the male mice, the influence of <i>Egr1</i>cKO on pituitary gene expression may be overridden by the Nestin-Cre driver. Differentially expressed genes associated with the Nestin-Cre driver were significantly enriched for genes related to growth factor activity and binding. Altogether, our results demonstrate that Nestin-Cre and the loss of <i>Egr1</i> in the neuronal cell lineage have distinct impacts on pituitary gene expression in a sex-specific manner.application/pdfenCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 Internationalsex differenceEgr1NestinRNA-seqpituitarygrowthArticle - Refereed2023-07-28https://doi.org/10.3390/biology12070966