Changes in Protein Secretory Patterns during the Development of the Rat Epididymis : Reproductive Biology

概要

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The developmental pattern of [35^S]methionine-labeled proteins secreted by the rat epididymis was studied by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and autoradiography. From fetal to sexually imnrature rats, epididymal tissues secreted polypeptides very similar to those of fetal and neonatal rat testes; polypeptide T35 and F37 were especially prominent. Although both T35 and F37 became indistinct in the testis of 10-day-old rat, they were detected in the epididymal three segments (caput, corpus and cauda) up to 50-day-old rat. In the sexually mature rat epididymis (100-day-old), neither T35 nor F37 was observed in the three segments, but the appearance of several newly synthesized polypeptides and the enhancement of radioactivity in pre-existent polypeptides were noted particularly in the caput segment. Moreover, polypeptide EH52 appeared only in the caput segment. Indirect immunofluorescence and immunogold electron microscopy provided additional data that a polyclonal antiserum against Sertoli cell specific polypeptide S35 recognized the presence of immunoreactive multivesicular bodies in the epididymal principal cells of sexually immature rats but not of sexually mature ones. The timing of disappearance of T35 and F37 indicates that both polypeptides may have functional significance at the onset of spermatogenesis and sperm maturation in the testis and epididymis, respectively.
社団法人日本動物学会の論文
1990-08-15