Volume 52 (8): 1001-1009, 2004 Copyright ©The Histochemical Society, Inc. Detection of Nascent and/or Mature Forms of Oviductin in the Female Reproductive Tract and Post-ovulatory Oocytes by Use of a Polyclonal Antibody Against Recombinant Hamster Oviductin
Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada (DSM,FWKK); Notre-Dame Hospital Research Center, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (CB); and Saint-Luc Hospital Research Center, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (GB) Correspondence to: Dr. Frederick W.K. Kan, Dept. of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 3N6. E-mail: kanfwk{at}post.queensu.ca
Oviductins belong to a family of glycoproteins that have been suggested to play several roles during the early processes of reproduction. Recently, a polyclonal antibody was raised against recombinant hamster oviductin (rhaOvm). Here the anti-rhaOvm antibody was used to investigate the sites of localization of oviductin in the female golden hamster. In the hamster oviduct, immunolabeling was restricted to the content of the Golgi saccules and secretory granules of the non-ciliated oviduct cells. After its release into the lumen, oviductin becomes associated with the zona pellucida of post-ovulatory oocytes. In unfertilized oocytes, oviductin was also detected in membrane invaginations along the oolemma and in some vesicles within the ooplasm. Furthermore, oviductin was detected over the microvilli and within multivesicular bodies of uterine epithelial cells. Western blotting analysis revealed the presence of oviductin in the hamster oviduct but not in the uterus or ovary. In the oviduct, the anti-rhaOvm antibody detected a polydispersed band corresponding to native oviductin (160350 kD) and several lower molecular weight bands (<100 kD) corresponding to nascent and partially glycosylated forms of oviductin. The anti-rhaOvm antibody provides an additional tool for investigation into the cytochemical and biochemical properties of different forms of hamster oviductin in the female reproductive tract. (J Histochem Cytochem 52:10011009, 2004)
Key Words: golden hamster oviduct secretion oviductin oviduct uterus ovary ovum
THE MAMMALIAN OVIDUCT is a very active secretory organ, providing the optimal milieu for the interaction between the gametes and transport of the early embryo to the uterus for subsequent implantation. Oviduct fluid, contained within the lumen of the oviduct, is composed of a complex blend of constituents derived from both plasma and non-ciliated secretory cells of the oviduct epithelium. A high molecular weight family of glycoproteins known as oviductins is among the constituents synthesized and secreted by the oviduct non-ciliated cells (for review, see Buhi 2002
Once released into the lumen of the oviduct, these oviduct glycoproteins are known to associate with the luminal cilia extending from the surface of the ciliated cells of the oviduct columnar epithelium (Kan et al. 1988
Recently, we have produced a polyclonal antibody against recombinant hamster oviductin that recognizes a peptide portion of hamster oviductin (McBride et al. 2004
Animals Female golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus), 1114 weeks of age (Charles River; St Constant, Quebec, Canada), were housed in a temperature-controlled room with a 12-hr light cycle (lights on at 0600). All animal care practices and experimental procedures complied with the guidelines of the Canadian Council on Animal Care and were approved by the Queen's University Animal Use Committee.
Preparation of Tissues for Immunohistochemistry and Immunocytochemistry
Preparation of Post-ovulatory Oocytes for ICC
Polyclonal Antibody
IHC Detection of Hamster Oviductin
Immunogold Labeling
Isolation of Total Protein from Oviduct Tissue
SDS-PAGE, Transfer, and Immunodetection of Hamster Oviductin
IHC and ICC Detection of Hamster Oviductin The newly developed anti-rhaOvm antibody was used to examine the distribution of oviductin in the female hamster reproductive tract and in post-ovulatory oocytes. As revealed by results obtained with IHC, the anti-rhaOvm antibody strongly labeled the oviduct epithelium on immunoperoxidase-labeled tissue sections (Figure 1A). At lower magnification, the oviduct epithelium exhibited an intense immunoreaction (not shown), whereas at higher magnification a heterogeneous labeling pattern was apparent, demonstrating that not all oviduct cells were labeled; strongly immunoreactive cells were observed interspersed with non-immunoreactive cells (Figure 1A). The ovary (Figure 1B) was unlabeled. However, faint immunostaining was detected over the uterine epithelial cell surface (Figure 1C). Immunoreaction was absent in control sections labeled with preimmune serum (Figure 1D).
To precisely locate the sites of immunoreactivity in the oviduct and uterus, an ICC study was performed. Application of the anti-rhaOvm antibody to thin sections of Lowicryl-embedded hamster oviduct, followed by incubation with protein Agold complex, resulted in specific labeling. In the non-ciliated secretory cells of the oviduct epithelium, labeling was observed over the content of the secretory granules located in the apical portion of the cells (Figure 2B) as well as those positioned adjacent to the Golgi region (Figure 2B). The contents of the Golgi saccules were also immunolabeled (Figure 2B), whereas the microvillar and lateral cell membranes (Figure 2B) were essentially devoid of immunolabeling. The ciliated cells of the epithelium were not labeled with the anti-rhaOvm antibody (Figure 2A). Therefore, the labeling specificity of the anti-rhaOvm antibody for oviductin was established. In the uterine sections, labeling was mainly restricted to the apical cell surface, specifically over the microvilli of the uterine epithelium (Figure 3A). In addition, labeling was detected in a number of multivesicular bodies within the uterine epithelial cells (Figure 3B). Labeling was not detected in the Golgi apparatus of the uterine epithelial cells (Figure 3C). Control sections of hamster oviduct and uterus exhibited very few, randomly distributed gold particles over the oviduct sections (Figure 3D).
Application of the anti-rhaOvm antibody to sections of post-ovulatory oocytes resulted in an intense immunoreaction over the zona pellucida surrounding the oocyte (Figures 4A and 4B). The distribution of gold particles within the zona pellucida was uniform and homogeneous and the labeling appears to be associated with dense filamentous structures of the zona matrix (Figure 4B). Gold particles representing antigenic sites were detected in the perivitelline space and in association with the microvilli of the oocyte plasma membrane (Figure 4A). Gold particles were also observed in association with membrane invaginations along the oolemma and in some vesicles of the postovulatory oocytes (Figure 4A). Control sections showed an absence of labeling over the zona pellucida, perivitelline space, and microvilli of the oocytes (Figure 4C).
Examination of Oviductin Protein Expression in the Reproductive Tract Tissues To test the specificity of the anti-rhaOvm antibody against purified hamster oviductin and to examine the protein expression of oviductin in the female hamster reproductive tract, purified oviductin samples and oviduct, uterine, and ovarian total protein samples were prepared and analyzed by Western blotting. The anti-rhaOvm antibody detected a broad band extending from 160350 kD in the lane containing purified hamster oviductin (Figure 5, Lane 1), further demonstrating the specificity of the newly developed antibody for hamster oviductin. The anti-rhaOvm antibody detected oviductin in the oviduct protein lysates (Figure 5, Lane 4) but not in the uterine or ovarian protein lysates (Figure 5, Lanes 2 and 3, respectively). In the oviduct total protein samples, the anti-rhaOvm antibody reacted with the polydispersed band ranging from 160 to 350 kD, corresponding to the fully glycosylated form of oviductin (Figure 5, Lane 4). In addition, the antibody was immunoreactive with several bands between 70 and 90 kD (Figure 5, Lane 4) corresponding to the nascent glycoprotein and various forms of glycosylated hamster oviductin.
In the present study, the recently developed anti-rhaOvm antibody (McBride et al. 2004 IHC labeling using the anti-rhaOvm antibody produced an intense and heterogeneous labeling pattern in the oviduct epithelium, revealing the presence of oviductin only in the non-ciliated secretory cells and not in the ciliated cells of the columnar epithelium lining the oviduct lumen. This was confirmed by results obtained with immunolabeling at the electron microscopic level. Application of the anti-rhaOvm antibody to ultrathin sections of hamster oviduct demonstrated an intense labeling in the non-ciliated oviductal cells at the ultrastructural level. The anti-rhaOvm antibody labeled the content of the secretory granules and the interior of the Golgi saccules but not the granule membrane, Golgi membrane, or lateral cell membrane, indicating that the antibody recognizes a secretory protein and not a membrane-bound protein, and further demonstrating the specificity of the newly developed antibody.
With the immunoperoxidase labeling technique, the glycoprotein was not detected in the ovary, but a faint immunoreaction was noted at the cell surface of the epithelial lining of the endometrium. At the electron microscopic level, application of the anti-rhaOvm antibody to Lowicryl-embedded sections of uterus revealed the presence of gold particles over the microvilli and in multivesicular bodies of the uterine epithelial cells. Oviductin was not detected in the Golgi complex of these cells, indicating that the uterine epithelium does not synthesize oviductin. These findings represent the first to demonstrate the presence of oviductin in endocytic vesicles in the uterine epithelial cells of the non-pregnant hamster at the electron microscopic level. A previous study carried out in our laboratory, using a monoclonal antibody that recognizes a glycosidic epitope of hamster oviductin (St-Jacques et al. 1992
In the present study, oviductin was uniformly distributed throughout the zona pellucida of post-ovulatory oocytes and was found to be specifically associated with dense filamentous structures comprising the zona matrix. The presence of the glycoprotein was also detected on the microvilli of the post-ovulatory oocyte, in the perivitelline space, and in various intracellular compartments, including membrane invaginations and some vesicles. These labeled vesicles might be of the endocytic type because neighboring cortical granules were unlabeled. Our study is the first to describe the endocytosis of oviductin by unfertilized, post-ovulatory hamster oocytes. Previous studies using the monoclonal antibody showed an association of oviductin with the zona pellucida and the microvilli of the oocyte (Kan et al. 1988
The presence of various forms of oviductin in the hamster oviduct was examined by Western blotting analysis. After immunoblotting, the anti-rhaOvm antibody detected a broad band starting at In summary, we have used the polyclonal anti-rhaOvm antibody to locate the polypeptide in the female hamster reproductive tract. We have demonstrated the presence of oviductin in endocytic compartments of both unfertilized oocytes and uterine epithelial cells, reinforcing the notion that mammalian oviductins play a functional role in fertilization and early embryonic development. More importantly, the newly developed antibody is able to detect the nascent and partially glycosylated precursor forms of hamster oviductin, which was unattainable with the monoclonal antibody previously used in our laboratory. Therefore, the development of the anti-rhaOvm antibody provides an additional tool for studying the intracellular behavior of hamster oviductin and will aid in elucidating the functions of hamster oviductin in the intricate process of reproduction.
Supported by grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (MOP-44043 to FWKK and MA 11684 to GB). The authors would like to express gratitude to Dr Yat Tse, Ms Hong Mei Gu, Ms Verna Norkum, and Mr Bob Temkin for their technical assistance and reproduction of the original photomicrographs.
Received for publication November 4, 2003; accepted April 14, 2004
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