Effect of sex steroid hormones on RGN expression in the accessory sex glands and testis of veal calves.

<p>Effects of 17β-estradiol (group A) and testosterone (group B) on RGN gene expression compared with the control group K1 in the bulbo-urethral glands (A), prostate (B) and testis (C) of veal calves. The results are presented as the means ± SEM. The y-axes show arbitrary units representing relative mRNA expression levels. A representative image of the immunohistochemical localisation of RGN protein in paraffin sections of the accessory sex glands and testis of veal calves. RGN staining in the bulbo-urethral glands (D, E and F), prostate (G, H and I) and testis (J, K and L) of 17β-estradiol- (D, G and J), testosterone- (E, H and K) treated animals and control (F, I and L) animals. Typical hyperplasia and metaplastic lesions were observed in bulbo-urethral glands (D) and prostate (G) of 17β-estradiol-treated veal calves (asterisk). RGN protein was localised in the nuclei of glandular cells in the bulbo-urethral glands, in the cytoplasm of glandular epithelia in the prostate and in the cytoplasm of Leydig cells (arrows), although the nuclei of some spermatogonia (arrowheads) showed weak staining. Immunohistochemistry 400X. *<i>P</i><0.05, **<i>P</i><0.01 versus the control group K1.