title: Proprotein convertases modulate budding and branching morphogenesis of rat ventral prostate.
abstract: The onset of prostate morphogenesis is involved in the interaction between mesenchyme and epithelium. Proprotein convertases (PCs) activate a variety of growth and differentiation factors including mesenchymal and epithelial factors, such as insulin-like growth factor (IGF) and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta), which induce ductal budding and branching. In this study, we provide evidence that PCs play a critical role in prostatic budding from the urogenital sinus (UGS) and ductal branching morphogenesis of the neonatal rat ventral prostate. PCs were expressed only in the epithelial cells of neonatal rat prostate. PC activity in the ventral prostate was modulated by endogenous androgen. PC inhibition suppressed prostatic budding and branching. Taken together, our data indicates that androgen-induced PCs initiate the development of the prostate.
authors.affiliation: Nephro-Urologic Surgery and Andrology, Division of Reparative and Regenerative Medicine, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, Mie, Japan.
authors.forename: Katsunori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Uchida
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kanai
authors.forename: Shigenori
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yonemura
authors.forename: Kenichiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ishii
authors.forename: Yoshifumi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hirokawa
authors.forename: Yoshiki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sugimura
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D019085:Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Direct; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D009024:Morphogenesis / Q000502:physiology*; D009924:Organ Culture Techniques; D043484:Proprotein Convertases / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011467:Prostate / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000196:embryology* / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D043484:Proprotein Convertases