PROSAPOSIN ABLATION INACTIVATES THE MAPK AND AKT SIGNALING PATHWAYS AND INTERFERES WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROSTATE GLAND

• 来源期刊: 亚洲男性学杂志(英文版)
• 学科: 医学
• 年，卷（期）: 2003,（1）
• 页码范围: 57-63
• 页数: 7页
• 分类号: R329
• 语种: 中文

摘要

The recent development of a prosaposin -/- mouse model has allowed the investigation of the role of prosaposin in the development of the male reproductive organs. A morphometric analysis of the male reproductive system of 37 days old mice revealed that prosaposin ablation produced a 30 % reduction in size and weight of the testes, 37 % of the epididymis, 75 % of the seminal vesicles and 60 % of the prostate glands. Light microscopy (LM) showed that smaller testis size from homozygous mutant mice was associated with reduced spermiogenesis. Both, dorsal and ventral lobules of the prostate glands were underdeveloped in the homozygous mutant. LM analysis also showed that prostatic alveoli were considerably smaller and lined by shorter epithelial cells in the homozygous mutant. Smaller tubular diameter and shorter undifferentiated epithelial cells were also observed in seminal vesicles and epididymis. In the efferent ducts of the homozygous mutant mice, the epithelium was composed exclusively of ciliated cell