The JI
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     
 

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Ylikomi, T. J.
Right arrow Articles by Tuohimaa, P. J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Ylikomi, T. J.
Right arrow Articles by Tuohimaa, P. J.
Right arrowPubmed/NCBI databases
*Compound via MeSH
*Substance via MeSH
Hazardous Substances DB
*ESTRADIOL

The Journal of Immunology, Vol 138, Issue 10 3174-3178, Copyright © 1987 by American Association of Immunologists

ARTICLES

Sexual maturation-associated and estrogen-induced progesterone receptor expression in the bursa of Fabricius

TJ Ylikomi, JJ Isola, JM Gasc and PJ Tuohimaa

The expression of the progesterone receptor (PR) was studied in the chicken bursa of Fabricius (BF) in both sexes from the time of hatching until the bursal involution. Steroid binding studies, immunohistochemistry, and autoradiography were used to characterize and localize the receptor. Three different polyclonal antibodies (IgG-RB, IgG-G3, and IgG-RB2) directed against the chick oviduct progesterone receptor were used for the studies. With immunohistochemistry, no receptor-positive cells were detected in the bursae of young chicks. The first receptor-positive cells were occasionally seen at the age of 10 wk in the frozen sections, not in the paraffin sections. In older female chicks, the staining became more abundant. In males, the PR was expressed only after estradiol treatment. The staining was located in the nuclei of the subepithelial and the interfollicular cells, which were probably mesenchymal in origin. The bursal epithelium and the lymphocytes were not stained. By using a combined technique of autoradiography and immunohistochemistry, we were able to demonstrate that the same cells also concentrated tritiated ORG 2058 (a specific synthetic progestin) in their nuclei. In steroid binding studies with tritiated ORG 2058, the receptor concentration after the age of 10 wk was 50 to 120 fmol/mg protein. Low-level ORG 2058 binding was also detected in young chicks of both sexes before the age of 10 wk. The progestin-binding molecule resembled the progesterone receptor of the chick oviduct in molecular size (studied with HPLC) and binding properties. The PR expression in the BF was preceded by the expression of PR in the oviduct stromal cells and by an increase in oviduct epithelial proliferation, indicating the BF is affected by factors associated with sexual maturation. It is concluded that the subepithelial and the interfollicular stromal cells in the BF, but not the epithelial or follicular cells, are estradiol-sensitive in both sexes immediately after hatching. The endogenous estrogens, however, are not able to induce PR until after the onset of sexual maturation, and only in females. This implies that estrogen and progesterone may affect the structural organization of the BF through the stromal cells, but probably not before the onset of puberty.




HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
This Website Copyright © 1987 by The American Association of Immunologists, Inc. All rights reserved.
All Contents Copyright © 1987 by The American Association of Immunologists, Inc. All rights reserved.