Resumen de Immunoexpression of gelatinase (MMP-2 and MMP-9) in the seminal vesicles and ventral prostate of Libyan jird (Meriones Libycus) during the seasonal cycle of reproduction
Mansouria Belhocine, Thérèse Gernigon Spychalowicz, M-P. Jacob, Y Benazzoug, Jean Marie Exbrayat
An immunohistochemical study of matrix metalloproteinases (MMP-2 and MMP-9) or gelatinase (gelatinase A and gelatinase B) was performed on the seminal vesicles and ventral prostate of the Libyan jird (Meriones libycus) collected in the Beni-Abbes area during breeding period (spring and early summer), during resting phase (later summer, autumn, winter) and from castrated animals in the spring. The work was done using the indirect inmmunochemistry protocol by amplification with streptavidin-biotin-peroxidase and AEC as chromogen.
In the seminal vesicles, during the breeding period, an important inmmunohistochemical signal of MMP-2 and MMP-9 was observed in epithelial cells and smooth muscle cells (SMC) without any inmmunoexpression in the extracellular matrix (ECM) and secretion. During resting phase and in thirty days castrated Meriones libycus, the MMP-2 and MMp-9 inmmunoexpression was weak in the epitellial cells and persisted with the same intensity in the SMC. The ECM, with no immunostaining in active season, showed a pronounced inmmunoresponse of both the two gelatinase. Three days after castration, the MMP-9 inmmunohistochemical reaction in epithelial cells and SMC was a intense as during active season. A prolonged castration of 50 and 90 days resulted in the maintenance of the MMP-9 immunostaining in epithelial cells and SMC and its disappeasance from the ECM, suggesting a slow process of regression.
During the breeding period, in the ventral prostate, MMP-2 immunostaining was more important in the SMC tahn in the epithelial cells. The MMP-9 immunoexpression pattern was the opposite, the epithelial cells showed a higher immunoreaction than SMC. ECM and secretion lacked MMP-2 and MMP-9 immunostaining. The ventral prostate lumen contained a granular secretion without any gelatinase immunolabelling and was hollowed by empty circular forms reflecting the disappearance of the product in these areas. Part of the secretion showed a positive MMP-2 and MMP-9 immunoreaction. The latter was subsequently filled and seemed involved in th progression of the secretion in the tubules, preventing their filling. In resting phase and in animals castrated since thirty days, the immunoreactivity of both the two gelatinases was maintained in the epithelial cells and in the SMC, and was absent in the ECM. The gelatinases are involved in the seasonal reproductive cycle of Mariones libycus.
