Volume 11, No 4, Dec 2001

ISSN: 1001-0602 
EISSN: 1748-7838 2018 
impact factor 17.848* 
(Clarivate Analytics, 2019)

Volume 11 Issue 4, December 2001: 245-252

REVIEWS

Thyroid hormone regulation of apoptotic tissue remodeling during anuran metamorphosis

SHI Yun-Bo*, Liezhen FU, Shao Chung Victor HSIA, Akihiro TOMITA, Daniel BUCHHOLZ

Laboratory of Gene Regulation and Development, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-5431, USA Correspondence:

Anuran metamorphosis involves systematic transformations of individual organs in a thyroid hormone (TH)-dependent manner. Morphological and cellular studies have shown that the removal of larval organs/tissues such the tail and the tadpole intestinal epithelium is through programmed cell death or apoptosis. Recent molecular investigations suggest that TH regulates metamorphosis by regulating target gene expression through thyroid hormone receptors (TRs), which are DNA-binding transcription factors. Cloning and characterization of TH response genes show that diverse groups of early response genes are induced by TH. The products of these TH response genes are believed to directly or indirectly affect the expression and/or functions of cell death genes, which are conserved at both sequence and function levels in different animal species. A major challenge for future research lies at determining the signaling pathways leading to the activation of apoptotic processes and whether different death genes are involved in the regulation of apoptosis in different tissues/organs to effect tissue-specific transformations.

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