The Presence and Estrogen Control of Immunoreactive Calbindin-D_9kin the Fallopian Tube of the Rat*

Abstract

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.

A non-genomic signaling pathway shut down by mating changes the estradiol-induced gene expression profile in the rat oviduct

“…Previous reports indicate that E 2 is able to change the expression of different proteins in the rat oviduct (Mathieu et al 1989, Hermoso et al 1997, Pérez Martínez et al 2006; however, to our knowledge, no studies have been performed to determine whether these responses are different before and after mating. Here, we compared the effect of E 2 on gene expression in the oviduct of unmated and mated rats.…”

Ciliated epithelial-specific and regional-specific expression and regulation of the estrogen receptor-β2 in the fallopian tubes of immature rats: a possible mechanism for estrogen-mediated transport process in vivo

“…There is evidence that Ca 2ϩ -binding proteins are responsible for intracellular Ca 2ϩ storage and that the functions of (32). Experimental studies performed in vivo have shown that calbindin-D9K is localized in the ciliated epithelial cells (35) and that it is regulated by estrogen in rat fallopian tubes (7). In addition, the dependency of calbindin-D28K expression on estrogen has been reported in mouse fallopian tubes (19).…”

Calbindin-D9k (CaBP9k) localization and levels of expression in trophoblast cells from human term placenta

“…This protein, first identified in rat intestine (Kallfelz et al 1967;Reiswig et al 1995), has two "EF" hands per monomer containing amino acid residues in a loop structure between a-helices functioning as the Ca 2+ binding site (Kligman and Hilt 1988). It has, so far, been detected in various other mammalian tissues including lung, kidney (Delorme et al 1983), growth cartilage (Balmain et al 1986), fallopian tube (Mathieu et al 1989), yolk sac (Delorme et al 1983;Bruns et al 1986), uterus (Delorme et al 1983;Warembourg et al 1987), and placenta (MacManus et al 1986;Müller et al 2000). The dynamic nature of the intrauterine expression of CaBP9k has been investigated in species such as rodents, ruminants, porcine species, and baboons.…”

“…These studies showed that the placental expression of CaBP9k varies markedly between species. Indeed, in the rat reproductive system, CaBP9k has been localized to tissues such as the myometrium, the eudiometrical stroma of the non-pregnant uterus, the transporting epithelium of the visceral yolk sac, the intraplacental yolk sac IPYS (IPYS) (Delorme et al 1983;Bruns et al 1988), the luminal epithelium of the maternal uterus in late gestation, and the epithelial cell lining the fallopian tubes (Mathieu et al 1989). In mouse, CaBP9k was identified only in the endodermal cells of IPYS (Bruns et al 1985).…”