Transforming growth factor-alpha and the ontogeny of epidermal growth factor receptors in rat kidney.

Epidermal growth factor exerts potent receptor-mediated mitogenic effects on a variety of target cells in vitro, but its importance in normal organ development is not yet fully understood. We report that the specific high-affinity receptors for EGF/TGF-Alpha increase dramatically in late gestational rat kidney (from 2.3% at 16 days gestation to 6.4% at term) and then fall toward basal adult levels (< 1% binding) during the first week of post-natal life. This post-natal fall-off in EGF binding corresponds temporally to the period when replication of rat kidney DNA begins to slow (4-7 days of post-natal life). EGF mRNA is not detectable in rat kidney by Northern analysis until the second week of post-natal life, but high levels of transforming growth factor-alpha are demonstrable by specific radioimmunoassay in extracts of fetal kidney (52.2 +/- 8.2 pmoles/gram kidney) and amniotic fluid (4.49 +/- 0.75 pmoles/ml). We speculate that induction of EGF-receptors in fetal rat kidney may confer responsiveness to local transforming growth factor-alpha and dictate the rate of hyperplastic renal growth in the perinatal period.