SLC9A3 Affects Vas Deferens Development and Associates with Taiwanese Congenital Bilateral Absence of the Vas Deferens

Figure 3

Expression of SLC9A3 mRNA in humans and rats. (a) SLC9A3 is enriched in human male reproductive organs. (b) In rats, Slc9a3 transcripts are expressed in the vas deferens and seminal vesicle. GAPDH and Gapdh were used as controls. (c) In human vas deferens cross-sections, upper panels show strong staining for SLC9A3 in the epithelium (red). The layers of circular and longitudinal muscle fibers were identified by immunoreactivity against α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) (green), whereas nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue). Lower panels show SLC9A3 immunostain (red) costaining with pancytokeratin (green). In rat vas deferens cross-sections, SLC9A3 (green) was clearly observed at the apical plasma membrane of epithelial cells, but not in smooth muscle cells (red). However, the pseudostratified epithelium at the apex was strongly costained with SLC9A3 and pancytokeratin (red), an epithelial marker. SLC9A3 was found to accumulate in the stereocilia of the vas deferens. No apical or basal reactivity was observed in control mouse or rabbit serum.

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