Expression of P450arom and Estrogen Receptor Alpha in the Oviduct of Chinese Brown Frog (Rana dybowskii) during Prehibernation

Figure 2

Immunolocalization of P450arom, ERα, and ERβ in the oviduct of Rana dybowskii during the breeding period and prehibernation. Positive immunostaining of P450arom was observed in the cytoplasm in both epithelial and stromal cells of the breeding period and prehibernation ((a), (d)), and stronger positive staining was shown in prehibernation (d). Immunoreaction for ERα was present in the nucleoli of both epithelial and stromal cells of the breeding period and prehibernation ((b), (e)), while the immunoreactivity for ERβ was not found ((c), (f)). P450arom was detected in Sertoli cells and Leydig cells in the testes of rat as positive control (g), while ERα and ERβ were detected in the nucleus of epithelial cell of the nuptial pad of male Rana dybowskii ((h), (i)). No immunostaining was detected in negative control sections in which the primary antibodies were preabsorbed by respective antigens ((a′)–(i′)). EC: epithelial cells; SC: Sertoli cells; LC: Leydig cells; NC: negative control. Scale bars represent 50 μm.