Protein profiles in various epididymal segments of normal and castrated rats.
OBJECTIVE
Epididymal proteins are known to play an important role in the maturation of spermatozoa. We ought to determine if there are regional differences in androgen-dependent epididymal proteins.


METHODS
A group of adult rats was castrated and epididymides were removed three days following castration. The epididymides were dissected into caput, corpus and cauda segments, homogenized, and proteins were fractionated by anion exchange HPLC. Proteins in selected fractions were resolved by SDS-PAGE and visualized by silver staining.


RESULTS
It was observed that the levels of multiple proteins drastically reduced in the various regions of epididymis of the orchiectomized rats.


CONCLUSIONS
The epididymal proteins appear to be useful markers to study androgenic action in the epididymis.
School of Life Sciences, Pondicherry University, Pondicherry-605 014, India. ppmathur@yahoo.com
P P
PP
Mathur
A
A
Marshall
C Y
CY
Cheng
D000728:Androgens / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D005591:Chemical Fractionation; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D002852:Chromatography, Ion Exchange; D015180:Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional; D004822:Epididymis / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D009919:Orchiectomy; D011506:Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012016:Reference Values
D000728:Androgens; D011506:Proteins