The effects of sequential administration of 17 beta-estradiol on the synthesis and secretion of specific proteins in the immature rat uterus.

We report here results of a study of the effect of sequential administration of 1 microgram 17 beta-estradiol in vivo on the incorporation of L-[35S]methionine into specific proteins in vitro in the immature rat uterus. One-dimensional SDS-PAGE analysis of labeled secreted uterine proteins and cellular proteins extracted from the luminal epithelial and from the stroma plus myometrial uterine fractions revealed that estradiol preferentially stimulated the synthesis of 110 K, 74 K and 66 K secreted proteins, 180 K and 110 K epithelial proteins and a 175 K stroma-myometrial protein among others, while it decreased the relative rate of synthesis of a 32.5 K secreted protein and a 70 K stroma-myometrial protein. The 110 K protein, a secreted luminal epithelial protein whose labeling in vitro dramatically increased greater than 60-fold per mg endometrial DNA after in vivo estrogen stimulation, may be a useful marker for studying estrogen action in the luminal epithelium of the immature rat uterus. Comparison of the secreted proteins labeled at 28 h (4 h after a second injection) and at 54 h (6 h after a third injection) revealed that estradiol effected a sequential change in the pattern of synthesis of secreted uterine proteins in vitro. Comparison of the number and magnitude of changes in the synthesis of specific proteins in the luminal epithelium and the stroma plus myometrium revealed that protein synthesis in the luminal epithelium is clearly more responsive to estradiol and readily distinguishable from the responsiveness of the stroma plus myometrium.