Scientists found that a short piece of the hormone kisspeptin (kisspeptin‑10) can make cow mammary cells produce more of the milk protein beta‑casein. The effect works through the GPR54 receptor and several cell‑signaling pathways (ERK1/2, AKT, mTOR, STAT5). Blocking the receptor or those pathways stops the boost.

Kisspeptins (Kps) play a key role in the regulation of GnRH axis and as an anti-metastasis agent by binding with <i>GPR54</i>. Recently, we observed that the expression of <i>GPR54</i> was higher in the lactating mammary tissues of dairy cows with high-quality milk (0.81 &#xb1; 0.13 kg/day of milk protein yield; 1.07 &#xb1; 0.18 kg/day of milk fat yield) than in those with low-quality milk (0.51 &#xb1; 0.14 kg/day of milk protein yield; 0.67 &#xb1; 0.22 kg/day of milk fat yield). We hypothesized that Kp-10 might regulate the milk protein, &#x3b2;-casein (CSN2) synthesis via GPR54 and its downstream signaling. First, we isolated the bovine mammary epithelial cells (bMECs) from lactating Holstein dairy cows, and treated them with different concentrations of Kp-10. Compared with the control cells, the synthesis of CSN2 is significantly increased at a concentration of 100 nM of Kp-10. In addition, the increased effect of CSN2 synthesis was blocked when the cells were pre-treated with the selective inhibitor of GPR54 Peptide-234 (P-234). Mechanistic study revealed that Kp-10 activated ERK1/2, AKT, mTOR and STAT5 in bMECs. Moreover, inhibiting ERK1/2, AKT, mTOR and STAT5 with U0126, MK2206, Rapamycin and AG490 could block the effects of Kp-10. Together, these results demonstrate that Kp-10 facilitates the synthesis of CSN2 via GPR54 and its downstream signaling pathways mTOR, ERK1/2, STAT5 and AKT.