title: A simple method for inducing estrous cycle stage-specific morphological changes in the vaginal epithelium of immature female mice.
abstract: The vaginal epithelium of the adult female laboratory rodent changes from mucous secretion to cornification over the course of the estrous cycle. The morphophysiological changes occur with such regularity, accuracy and precision that the specific stage of the estrous cycle in the rat can be determined by inspection of the vaginal opening and/or exfoliative vaginal cytology. However, in the mouse, post-mortem vaginal histology is often required to determine the estrous cycle stage for ensuring the required level of reliability. Consequently, an excess number of female adult mice are needed to allow for the delivery of sufficient numbers of mice in a desired estrous cycle stage. In this study, we demonstrate that the standard procedure for oocyte superovulation and collection in the laboratory mouse (e.g. injection of equine chorionic gonadotropin followed 48 h later by human chorionic gonadotropin) can also be reliably used to induce changes in the epithelium of 3.5-week-old mouse vaginas in an estrous cycle stage-specific manner (e.g. establishment and replacement of a mucous secreting epithelium with a cornified epithelium; induction of cornification-associated loricrin expression). The superovulation protocol thus allows for the efficient and economic induction of estrous cycle stage-specific characteristics in the Müllerian duct-derived vagina thereby avoiding the necessity of post-mortem identification of the estrous cycle stage. In addition, our study indicates that the laboratory mouse vagina is an excellent organ for studying the sequence of events leading to cornification.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Merkwitz
authors.affiliation: Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, McGill University, Urology Research Laboratories, Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal, Canada.
authors.forename: Orest
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Blaschuk
authors.affiliation: Institute of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Franziska
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Eplinius
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Jana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Winkler
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Prömel
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany IFB Adiposity Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schulz
authors.affiliation: Institute of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany albert.ricken@medizin.uni-leipzig.de.
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ricken
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006063:Chorionic Gonadotropin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000187:drug effects; D030762:Estrous Cycle; D005260:Female; D006064:Gonadotropins, Equine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D010062:Ovulation Induction / Q000379:methods*; D013480:Superovulation; D014621:Vagina / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D006063:Chorionic Gonadotropin; D006064:Gonadotropins, Equine
keywords: Müllerian duct-derived organs; cornification; gonadotropins; laboratory animals; reduction