Randall H. Renegar, Ph.D.

Professor

B.S., North Carolina State University
M.S., Michigan State University
Ph.D., University of Florida
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Florida

office: Brody 7W-39B
telephone: 252-744-2845
e-mail: renegarra@ecu.edu

| Research | Selected Publications | Staff and Students |

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Research
Our laboratory's general research interests are the interactions between the uterus and fetus, and the control of uterine and placental secretory processes. Relaxin, a hormone of pregnancy, is involved in uterine growth and cervical softening and is expressed in placental trophoblast cells in the hamster. Relaxin has been isolated from placentae by this laboratory, and temporal expression in this tissue has been evaluated. Studies are ongoing to examine regulation of transcription, post-translational processing and secretion of this hormone by placental trophoblast cells. The diverse nucleotide and amino acid structure and tissue expression pattern of relaxin among mammalian species presents a unique opportunity to evaluate factors that regulate relaxin expression. Studies are currently underway to evaluate the 5' untranslated region of the relaxin gene from hamster (trophoblast expression) and mouse (ovarian expression) in a effort to identify response elements unique to each gene. Recent studies in the laboratory indicated that relaxin enters the fetal circulation during late pregnancy. Studies are in progress to identify possible relaxin binding sites in the developing fetus.

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Selected Publications
Renegar, R.H., C.R. Owens, and J.M. Chalovich. 1993. Purification and partial characterization of relaxin and relaxin precursors from the hamster placenta. Biol. Reprod. 49: 154.

Jones, M.A. and R.H. Renegar. 1994. Temporal and regional expression of placental lactogen-II mRNA and protein in the hamster placenta. Biol. Reprod. 50: 581-592.

McCaslin, R.B. and R.H. Renegar. 1995. Determination of the prorelaxin nucleotide sequence and expression of prorelaxin mRNA in the Golden hamster. Biol. Reprod. 53: 454-461.

Renegar, R.H., C.R. Owens, and D. Whitehead. 1995. Morphological and functional parameters of placentas from rat dams flown on the NIH.R1 study. ASGSB Bulletin 9: 98.

Barnes, S.W. and R.H. Renegar. 1996. Identification, characterization, and expression of hamster proliferin-related protein. Biol. Reprod. 55: 370-378.

Renegar, R.H., S.C.M. Kwok, and J.P. McMurty. 1996. Prohormone convertases in the pig ovary and hamster placenta. Biol. Reprod. 54 (Suppl 1): 241.

Maira, M.L. and R.H. Renegar. 1998. Factors affecting in vitro release of relaxin by hamster giant trophoblast cells. Proc. Ann. Conf. Triangle Consortium Reprod. Biol. 1998: 18.

Burden, H., R. Renegar, J. Zary, C. Owens, and J. Alberts. 1998. Effects of space flight during pregnancy on rat uterine connexxin-43 at term. FASEB J. 12: A1109.

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Staff and Students

Former Students and Post-Doctoral Fellows:

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