The effect of knockdown of EcR or USP on the structure of male accessory glands.

<p>To assess the effect of depletion of EcR or USP, accessory glands were analyzed either at the ultrastructural level (panels at the top). Depicted at the top are the electron micrographs of male accessory glands from (A) EcR control (B) EcR knockdown (C) USP control and (D) knockdown males. Accessory glands from EcR control, USP control and USP knockdown males show normal protein filamentous structures (labeled as f) throughout in their lumen. However, glands of EcR knockdown have extreme vacuolization (v) and lack filamentous structures in the lumen. A minimum of five tissues from each group was used for ultrastructural analysis.