Cowper’s Gland Secretion in Rat Semen Coagulation, II. Identification of the Potentiating Factor Secreted by the Coagulating Glands

Transglutaminase from Rat Coagulating Gland Secretion

“…Finally, the observed activation by phosphatidic acids is a further specific feature of CGS TGase possibly related to the previously reported stimulation of vesicular protein polymerization exerted both by acidic glycoproteins occurring in the bulbourethral gland secretion (33) and/or by a variety of macromolecular polyanions (27). The molecular mechanism and the biological significance of such activation deserve further studies mostly in relation to the possible formation of micelle structures around the fatty acid(s) bound to the enzyme and to its possible interaction either with the sperm surface or with some specific seminal component(s) originating from the different accessory sexual glands at the moment of ejaculation.…”

The urethral glands of male mice in relation to depletion of secretory granules upon mating

“…The nuclei of these cells appeared swollen and less dense than in control cells. Geuze and Slot (1976) (Macrides et al, 1975 (Sar et al, 1990 (Parr et al, 1992 (Hart and Greenstein, 1968 (Beil and Hart, 1973). The function, if any, of urethral gland secretions in these complex biochemical interactions awaits further study.…”

Comparative study of glycoconjugates of the rat prostatic lobes by lectin histochemistry

“…13c), and PHA-L (Fig. 20c), in addition to GS-I-B 4 . Since PWA and ECA are specific for Gal(␤1,4)GlcNAc or its oligomers a n d P H A -L i s s p e c i f i c f o r t r i s a c c h a r i d e Gal(␤1,4)GlcNAc(␣1,2)Man, this suggests that basal cells in the ventral prostate also carry these oligosaccharides in addition to ␣-Gal.…”

“…Orgad et al [34] reported that the basal cells in canine prostates are not reactive to lectins. It is also interesting to compare the staining patterns between PWA and GS-I-B 4 , with RCA-I and ECA in the ventral prostate. The basal cells stained by PWA and GS-I-B 4 appeared to form a continuous layer in the basal compartment of the ventral prostatic epithelium, which was probably due to the positive staining of the horizontal cytoplasmic processes of the basal cells, whereas in RCA-I and ECA staining, the basal cells, of which the cell bodies were stained, appeared to be separated from one another.…”

“…The paired coagulating glands, originally called the anterior or craniodorsal prostate lobe, lie adjacent to the seminal vesicles, and were given their name as their secretion, containing a transglutaminase, can coagulate the basic clotting proteins from the seminal vesicles [3,4]. The different prostatic lobes are different in their histology [5][6][7], ductal patterns [8], secretions [4,9,10], biochemical parameters [11], and responses to hormones [12] and castration [13]. Lobe-specific carbohydrates and glycoproteins are secreted by different prostatic lobes.…”