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Expression and Regulation of Lipocalin-Type Prostaglandin D Synthase in Rat Testis and Epididymis¹

College of Life Sciences,³ Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China Department of Physiology,⁴ Harbin Medical University, Harbin 150086, China Department of Biology,⁵ Texas Woman's University, Denton, Texas 76204

Lipocalin-type prostaglandin D synthase (L-PGDS), a bifunctional protein, is expressed in the male reproductive organs of many species. However, the expression and regulation of L-PGDS in rat are still uncertain. The present study investigated the regionalization and regulation of L-PGDS expression in rat testis and epididymis by in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry under the conditions of sexual maturation, castration, and ethylene dimethane sulfonate (EDS) treatments. In sexually mature rats, L-PGDS mRNA was weakly expressed only in the testicular peritubular cells, whereas L-PGDS immunostaining was highly detected in the Leydig cells by Day 70 postpartum. During sexual maturation, L-PGDS mRNA expression was highly detected in the caput, corpus, and cauda of the epididymis 70 days after birth. Compared with normal L-PGDS expression in adult epididymis, both L-PGDS mRNA expression and protein immunostaining were significantly reduced in the caput, corpus, and cauda epididymis after castration. Testosterone propionate treatment induced a significant increase of L-PGDS expression in the epididymis of castrated rats. Compared with adult rat epididymis, L-PGDS mRNA and protein expression was down-regulated after EDS treatment. Testosterone propionate treatment could induce an increase of L-PGDS mRNA and protein expression in the epididymis of EDS-treated rats. In conclusion, both castration and EDS treatments caused a significant decrease of L-PGDS expression in the epididymis, whereas testosterone propionate treatment could induce an increase of L-PGDS expression in the epididymis of both castrated and EDS-treated rats, indicating that L-PGDS expression in the rat epididymis can be up-regulated by testosterone.

¹ This work was supported by Chinese National Natural Science Foundation Grants 30270163, 30200196, and 30330060 and the Special Funds for Major State Basic Research Project (G1999055903).

² Correspondence: Zeng-Ming Yang, College of Life Sciences, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China. FAX: 86 451 55103336; zmyang{at}mail.neau.edu.cn

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