Castration-induced expression of caspase-1 in epithelia of accessory sex organs in male rats.
OBJECTIVE
As an attempt to clarify the molecular basis of castration-induced apoptosis, this study was undertaken to demonstrate the expression of caspase-1 in male accessory sex organs of rats.


RESULTS
cDNA of rat caspase-1 was cloned by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction from the ventral prostates. The open reading frame predicts 402 amino acids, which shows more than 91% and 63% identity to those of mouse and human, respectively. Northern analyses demonstrated the presence of castration-induced up-regulation of the 1.6 kb transcript in the ventral prostate and the seminal vesicles. Finally, the authors demonstrated the caspase-1 transcripts in the epithelia of these tissues by in situ hybridization analyses.


CONCLUSIONS
Castration induces the expression of caspase-1 transcripts in the epithelia of ventral prostate and seminal vesicle. These observations suggest a possible role of caspase-1 in apoptosis in male accessory sex organs.
Izawa
M
M
Department of Biosignaling, School of Life Science, Faculty of Medicine, Tottori University, Yonago, Japan. lmizawa@grape.med.tottori-u.ac.jp
Kimura
M
M
Yamada
T
T
Saji
M
M
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence / Q000235:genetics; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence / Q000235:genetics; D020170:Caspase 1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics; D004848:Epithelium / Q000201:enzymology; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009919:Orchiectomy; D011467:Prostate / Q000201:enzymology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012669:Seminal Vesicles / Q000201:enzymology*
D018076:DNA, Complementary; D020170:Caspase 1