Effect of Maternal Estradiol Hormone on Gene Expression in Zebrafish (Danio rerio) Embryos and its Clinical Implications

Abstract

Maternal steroid hormone, estradiol plays significant role in fertilized eggs by performing proper
embryo development. The study was performed to observe the genetic effects of estradiol by using reverse
transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. A total three steroid responsive genes were analysed namely anx2a, ccng1
and hmox1. The ef1a gene was used as reference to normalize data. The transcripts of anx2a were down regulated in
E2 0.01 treated embryos at 8 hpf when compared to contol and E2 0.1 treated embryos. The ccng1 transcripts for E2
0.1 and E2 0.01 and E2 treated embryos were equally and strongly expressed. There was also no up or downregulation
when analysed with hmox1 gene. So the results suggest that different estradiol concentrations can alter
specific genetic expression at 8 hpf embryonic state and clinically it could be used as an effective gene therapy.
However, extensive studies should be conducted to assess its beneficial effects on human being.