title: Localization of semaphorin 3A in the rat cornea.
abstract: Semaphorin 3A (Sema3A) functions to guide the growth of neurons during development. We investigated the localization of Sema3A in the cornea, one of the most sensitive tissues in the body. Immunoblot analysis and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis revealed that Sema3A protein and mRNA are expressed in the normal rat cornea. Immunofluorescence staining of frozen sections or tissue blocks prepared from the cornea revealed the presence of Sema3A in wing cells and basal cells (but not superficial cells) of the corneal epithelium, in keratocytes, and in the corneal endothelium. The expression pattern of Sema3A in the corneal epithelium differed from those of zonula occludens-1 and connexin43. These observations show that Sema3A is expressed in all cells of the rat cornea with the exception of superficial epithelial cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Yamaguchi University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-1-1 Minami-Kogushi, Ube, Yamaguchi 755-8505, Japan. morishig@yamaguchi-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Naoyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Morishige
authors.forename: Ji-Ae
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Tai-Ichiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chikama
authors.forename: Teruo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nishida
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003315:Cornea / Q000378:metabolism*; D004728:Endothelium, Corneal / Q000378:metabolism; D019573:Epithelium, Corneal / Q000378:metabolism; D005136:Eye Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015870:Gene Expression; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D040121:Semaphorin-3A / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D005136:Eye Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; C488218:Sema3a protein, rat; D040121:Semaphorin-3A