Hormonal effects on the biosynthesis of sulfated glycoprotein in a microsomal fraction of the endometrium of rabbit uterus.

A crude microsomal fraction (M-Fr) was separated from the endometrial scrapings of uteri of ovariectomized rabbits with or without hormonal treatment. The effects of estrogen and progesterone on the incorporation into M-Fr of L-[U-14C]-fucose and N-acetyl-D-[6-3H]-glucosamine from their nucleotides were investigated. Estrogen increased the incorporation of these sugars, whereas progesterone suppressed this effect. The results of fractionation on a DEAE-Sephadex A-25 (Cl- form) column of the isotope-labelled complex saccharide mixtures, obtained by pronase digestion of the incubation mixtures, indicated that biosynthesis of sulfated glycoprotein was most sensitive to the hormones among the complex saccharides in M-Fr. Thus, a hormonal effects on the biosynthesis of sulfated glycoprotein in the endometrium of ovariectomized rabbit has been unambiguously confirmed at the microsomal level.