Transient coexpression of cytokeratin and vimentin in differentiating rat sertoli cells☆

摘要

Theexpressionofcytokeratinandvimentintypeintermediatefilamentswerestudiedinfetal,postnatal,andadultrattestes.Immunocytochemicalobservationswerecorrelatedwiththelightandelectronmicroscopicanalysisofthedevelopingorgans.TheSertolicellprecursorsin15-day-oldfetaltestescontainedbothcytokeratinandvimentin.Agradualreorganizationofbothfilaments,accompaniedbyadecreaseofcytokeratin-positivity,wasobservedtowardtheendofthefetalperiod.Thesimultaneouspresenceofcytokeratinandvimentininthesamecellswasshownbydoubleimmunofluorescenceofnewborntestesandtheprimarycultureofdissociatedtesticularcells.InpostnatalSertolicells,cytokeratin-positivitycontinuedtodecreaseanddisappearedbytheageof14days.TheincreaseinvimentincontentandtheappearanceofaxiallyorientedvimentinfilamentscoincidedwiththeacquisitionofthecolumnarshapeoftheSertolicells.Thepresenceofcytokeratinandvimentininfetalandnewborntestes,andonlyvimentinintheadulttesteswasconfirmedbyimmunoblotting.Thepresentresultssuggestthatmajorqualitativechangesintheexpressionofintermediatefilamentproteinscantakeplaceduringtheembryonicdevelopment.TheexpressionofcytokeratinindevelopingSertolicells,althoughonlytransient,supportstheepithelialoriginofthesecellsandcanbeappliedasamarkerforembryonicandearlypostnatalSertolicells.