In aging Brown Norway rats, there is an activation of the immune system represented by a striking increase in the number of halo cells. As the blood-epididymis barrier should protect from immunological attack, we hypothesized that there would be changes in the structure and function of this barrier with age. Immunocytochemical localization of occludin, ZO-1 and E-cadherin, as well as lanthanum nitrate permeability of the blood-epididymis barrier, were done using the epididymides of rats aged 3, 18, and 24 months. Occludin, ZO-1, and E-cadherin immunostaining was observed at the apico-lateral junction between principal cells in the initial segment of 3-month-old animals; with increasing age, occludin and ZO-1 reactivity decreased, while E-cadherin staining increased along the lateral membrane between principal cells. The most dramatic changes were seen in the corpus epididymidis with age; the intense E-cadherin cytoplasmic staining that was observed at 3 months was absent by 24 months and no occludin or ZO-1 reactivity was observed in older animals. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.21591 |
| Date | January 1998 |
| Creators | Levy, Shirley. |
| Contributors | Robaire, Bernard (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001650170, proquestno: MQ50818, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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