An electron microscopic study of the steroid hormone receptor in uterine cells by the colloidal gold-labeled steroid hormone.
To study the localization of the progesterone and estradiol receptors by electron microscopy, the colloidal gold-labeled steroid hormones, intercalated with bovine serum albumin, were developed in the postembedding method. Among the tissues investigated in this study, receptors specifically distributed in the nuclei of the cells in the uterus and liver but not in the colon. Among the uterine smooth muscle cells in the estrus cycle, the frequency of the progesterone receptors in the nuclei indicated the highest level at a proestrus stage when the serum estradiol is maximum and the lowest level at a metestrus stage when the serum estradiol is minimum. On the other hand, the frequency of the estradiol receptor did not show significant changes among the stages of the estrus cycle. In the nuclei, the receptors specifically distributed on the euchromatin and on the peripheral regions of the heterochromatin, thought to be active regions of the transcription, and among the interchromatin granules. No receptors were observed within the nucleolus, the heterochromatin, the perinuclear chromatin, the nuclear sap, and the perichromatin granules. The colloidal gold-labeled steroids proved to be useful to study the microlocalization of the steroid hormone receptors in various target organs by electron microscopy.
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D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D006046:Gold; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000378:metabolism; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone / Q000378:metabolism; D011987:Receptors, Steroid / Q000378:metabolism*; D014599:Uterus / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure
D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone; D011987:Receptors, Steroid; D006046:Gold