The morphological and functional observation of the gap junction proteins in the oviduct epithelia in young and adult hamsters

Abstract

The histological morphology of oviduct epithelia have been described well, however, the expression pattern of the gap junction proteins in the cells, and the function related with the proteins, such as [Ca²⁺]_i dynamics pattern of living oviduct epithelia at different ages have not been clarified. We used immunohistochemistry to compare the expression pattern of gap junction proteins in the cells of the young and adult groups. Moreover, we used real-time confocal microscopy to observe the spontaneous Ca²⁺ oscillation (spontaneous fluctuation) in freshly isolated epithelia (ciliated cells) in ampulla potion of oviduct from the two groups. The results show as demonstrated by immunohistochemistry the gap junction proteins (Cx26, Cx32 and Cx43) formed a well-regulated expression in the young animals, but not in the adult animals. In addition, the [Ca²⁺]_i dynamics of ciliated cells in freshly oviduct epithelia have a spontaneous fluctuation pattern that occurs without any stimulation in the young animals, but this pattern was not observed in the adult animals. In conclusions, our findings suggest that gap junctions regulate the spontaneous fluctuation of [Ca²⁺]_i dynamics in ciliated cells of oviduct epithelia in young animals.