Calbindin-Dgk was quantified and its cellular location was defined in uterus, yolk sac, and placenta. In late gestation (days 17 to term) coordinated induction of calbindinDqk was seen in uterine epithelial lining cells and the juxtaposed yolk sac visceral epithelium as well as the intraplacental yolk sac epithelium. The induction of calbindin-Dk in these cells coincided with the time of exponential fetal bone growth and maximal fetal accumulation of calcium, suggesting a role of the protein in these epithelial layers in maternal-fetal calcium transport. Dynamic changes also occurred in the calbindin-Dgk contents of the two layers of uterine smooth muscle (outer longitudinal and inner circular) during mid-and late gestation.
The present study was undertaken to localize and investigate the endocrine control of immunoreactive 9K calbindin-D9k in the fallopian tube (oviduct) of the rat. Rat fallopian tubes were excised with the uterus, immediately fixed by freeze-substitution, and processed for immunoperoxidase staining. Staining employed a rabbit antiserum against purified rat intestinal calbindin-D9k and the streptavidin-biotin technique. Calbindin-D9k immunoreactivity was localized to luminal epithelial cells of the fallopian tube of mature rats, with no staining observed in other tissue layers of the tube. Epithelial cells in both the isthmus and the ampulla were positive for calbindin-D9k. In weanling rats, which have little ovarian function but high levels of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, no immunoreactive calbindin-D9k was observed in any part of the tube. However, after daily injections of estradiol (6 micrograms/day) for 3 days, intense staining was observed in the epithelial cells of the immature rat fallopian tube. Progesterone treatment (1 mg/day for 3 days) of immature rats had no effect on calbindin-D9k in fallopian tube. The lumen of the fallopian tube (oviduct) is the key location for fertilization, a process that requires a narrowly defined concentration of extracellular calcium. By analogy to the intestine, calbindin-D9k may play a role in the transcellular movement of calcium across the fallopian tube epithelium in the fallopian tube lumen.
Neocentromeres are mitotically stable human derivative centromeres without alpha-satellite DNA which are able to provide stability to rearranged chromosome fragments that would otherwise be acentric and rapidly lost. A female fetus was found to be mosaic for a supernumerary marker chromosome: 47,XX,+mar[3]/46,XX[36]. The marker was identified by fluorescence in situ hybridization and G-band as an inversion duplication of 13q21→13qter, with a neocentromere present at 13q21, in approximately 9% of colonies examined. Parental blood karyotypes were normal. QF-PCR performed on blood samples from both parents and the second amniotic fluid sample showed evidence of a second maternal allele at markers D13S258 (13q21) and D13S628 (13q31–q32), indicating formation at maternal meiosis I/II. This is the first reported case where the detection and origin of a low-level mosaic prenatal neo(13) were confirmed by QF-PCR.
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