Abstract
Bovine placenta is a classical target and source of many steroid hormones which are involved in the growth, differentiation
and development of placenta. Placental trophoblasts are an important source of endocrine, paracrine and autocrine acting
hormones. Androgens are considered male sex hormones; however, they are also secreted and have regulatory functions in
females and play a predominant role in the development and physiological functions in both sexes. The androgen receptor
plays a key role in androgen action. To study the expression of androgen receptor in bovine placentome at mRNA level the
placentomes were collected at a local slaughterhouse of Giessen Germany from healthy cows between 50 to 150 days of
gestation. RNA was prepared in laboratory with trizol method and reversed transcribed. Conventional PCR agarose gel
mRNA and the taqman method of detection was used for expression of androgen receptors. GAPDH was used as
housekeeping reference gene. AR-specific mRNA expression was detected in all RNA preparations from placentomes of
early pregnancy. Significant AR expression suggests that besides progesterone and estrogens also androgens may be active
products of placental steroidogenesis in cattle.
