Castration-induced expression of caspase-1 in epithelia of accessory sex organs in male rats

摘要

Aim: As an attempt to clarify the molecular basis of castration-induced apoptosis, this study was undertaken to demonstrate the expression of caspase-1 in male accessory sex organs of rats. Methods and results: cDNA of rat caspase-1 was cloned by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction from the ventral prostates. The open reading frame predicts 402 amino acids, which shows more than 91% and 63 % identity to those of mouse and human, respec tively. Northern analyses demonstrated the presence of castration-induced up-regulation of the 1.6 kb transcript in the ventral prostate and the seminal vesicles. Finally, the authors demonstrated the caspase-1 transcripts in the epithelia of these tissues by in situ hybridization analyses. Conclusion: Castration induces the expression of caspase-1 tran scripts in the epithelia of ventral prostate and seminal vesicle. These observations suggest a possible role of caspase-1 in apoptosis in male accessory sex organs.