Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to summarize results characterizing some of the biochemical and molecular changes in gene expression initiated by thyroid hormone in the tadpole liver. This chapter presents results from more recent studies focused on the molecular mechanisms by which this hormone is thought to initiate and orchestrate postembryonic changes in gene expression that eventually lead to an adult, amphibian liver phenotype. Postembryonic development in most amphibians involves biochemical, physiological, and morphological changes that prepare the aquatic tadpole for its transition to a full or partial terrestrial adult, a process termed metamorphosis. The liver in the metamorphosing tadpoles does not show marked morphological changes, but undergoes extensive cytological, biochemical, and molecular remodeling, which is thought to involve both a reprogramming of gene expression and the terminal differentiation of the resident hepatocytes. While the occurrence of these postembryonic changes in the liver cells of a metamorphosing tadpole is dependent on increasing circulating levels of thyroid hormone and can be induced precociously by administration of thyroid hormone to a premetamorphic tadpole, the means by which this hormone initiates these changes are only now beginning to be understood.
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