Induction of stathmin mRNA during liver regeneration.

Stathmin is a 19 kDa phosphoprotein, and is proposed to play a role in signal transduction in response to various extracellular stimuli that promote cellular growth and/or differentiation. We examined stathmin mRNA expression during development and liver regeneration in mice. Stathmin mRNA expression declined during the post-natal period and was undetected in adult liver. 36 h after partial hepatectomy, stathmin mRNA was rapidly induced and remained at elevated levels for at least 10 days. In situ hybridization experiments confirmed that stathmin mRNA expression occurred in hepatocytes. These results indicate that the stathmin gene expression appears to be repressed during the post-natal liver development, and is de-repressed by liver regeneration, which suggests that stathmin may be a good molecular marker of liver plasticity.