Search

The article reports on a study regarding distribution of Estrogen Receptor (ER) in the thymus and bursa of fabricius (BF) in chick embryos. It discusses methodology of the study which includes preparation of tissue, their immunohistochemical analysis and analysis of ER mRNA by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction technique. The study confirmed presence of ER in the thymus and BF which influence differentiation of thymic and bursal lymphocytes during embryogenesis.

Follicle-associated epithelium (FAE) covering Peyer's patches contains specialized epithelial M cells that take up ingested macromolecules and microorganisms from the lumen of the gut by transcytosis. Using high-density oligonucleotide microarrays, we analyzed the gene expression profiles of FAE and M cells in order to characterize their cellular phenotypes. The microarray data revealed that, among approximately 14,000 genes, 409 were expressed in FAE at twofold or higher levels compared to the intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) of the villi. These included genes involved in membrane traffic, host defense and transcriptional regulation, as well as uncharacterized genes. Real-time PCR and in situ hybridization analyses identified three molecules, ubiquitin D (Ub-D), tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily 12a (TNFRsf12a), and transmembrane 4 superfamily 4 (Tm4sf4), which were predominantly distributed throughout FAE, but were expressed little, if at all, in IECs. By contrast, transcripts of secretory granule neuroendocrine protein 1 (Sgne-1) were scattered in FAE, and were co-localized with Ulex europaeus agglutinin-1 (UEA-1)-positive cells. This clearly suggests that expression of Sgne-1 in the gut is specific to M cells. Such a unique pattern of gene expression distinguishes FAE and M cells from IECs, and may reflect their cellular phenotype(s) associated with specific functional features. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]