title: Aquaporin-1 (AQP1) is expressed in the stria vascularis of rat cochlea.
abstract: Cochlea endolymph, produced by the stria vascularis, is essential for normal inner ear function. Abnormal endolymphatic volumes correlate closely with pathological conditions such as Ménière's disease. The critical roles played by aquaporins, which facilitate osmotic movement of water molecules, are known in a variety of tissues. We investigated the expression of aquaporin-1 (AQP1) in the rat inner ear using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemical methods. We obtained novel data showing that not just AQP1 mRNA but also AQP1 protein is expressed in the stria vascularis, in addition to other data confirming previous reports. AQP1 immunoreactivity localized to the intermediate cells in the stria vascularis. The above finding suggests that AQP1 may play a role in the water distribution associated with vigorous ion transport in the stria vascularis since the intermediate part of the stria vascularis contains both intermediate cells and the basolateral parts of marginal cells, both of which express ion transporters abundantly.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Kochi Medical School, Nankoku, 783-8505 Kochi, Japan.
authors.forename: Shoichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sawada
authors.forename: Taizo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takeda
authors.forename: Hiroya
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kitano
authors.forename: Shunji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Takeuchi
authors.forename: Teruhiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Okada
authors.forename: Motonori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ando
authors.forename: Mikio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Akinobu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kakigi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D051398:Aquaporin 1; D020346:Aquaporins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D016253:Microscopy, Immunoelectron; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013316:Stria Vascularis / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: C496022:Aqp1 protein, rat; D020346:Aquaporins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D051398:Aquaporin 1