Yokoyama Y, Takahashi Y, Hashimoto M, Shinohara A, Lian Z, Tamaya T
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Gifu University School of Medicine, Gifu, Japan.
Biotech Histochem. 1998 Jul;73(4):202-10. doi: 10.3109/10520299809141111.
Silver staining of argyrophilic proteins of nucleolar organizer regions (Ag-NOR) has been used to evaluate a hyperactive state of cells. We studied the effects of sex steroids on the Ag-NOR proteins in the rabbit uterus. Estradiol-17beta (E2) caused uterine hypertrophy and increased the number of Ag-NOR dots in epithelial and stromal cells of the endometrium and smooth muscles cells in a dose dependent manner without proliferative change in the endometrium. Progestins including progesterone, medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA), and norethindrone following E2 caused progestational proliferation of the endometrium with an increase in the Ag-NOR number to various extents, whereas methyltestosterone, a synthetic androgen, caused only a minimal proliferative change in the endometrium without an increase in the Ag-NOR number. Western blot analysis revealed that progesterone and MPA increased the amounts of a 100 kDa protein (nucleolin) and a 37 kDa protein (B23 protein) in the endometium and a marked proliferative change, whereas E2 did not. These results suggest that although the Ag-NOR number was enhanced by both progestin and estrogen, only progestins substantially increase the Ag-NOR protein in the rabbit uterus. This implies that an increase in the amount of nucleolin and B23 protein is associated with the proliferative potential of the cells.
核仁组织区嗜银蛋白（Ag-NOR）的银染已被用于评估细胞的活跃状态。我们研究了性类固醇对兔子宫中Ag-NOR蛋白的影响。17β-雌二醇（E2）引起子宫肥大，并以剂量依赖的方式增加子宫内膜上皮和基质细胞以及平滑肌细胞中Ag-NOR点的数量，而子宫内膜无增殖变化。在E2之后，包括孕酮、醋酸甲羟孕酮（MPA）和炔诺酮在内的孕激素引起子宫内膜的孕性增殖，Ag-NOR数量有不同程度增加，而合成雄激素甲基睾酮仅引起子宫内膜最小程度的增殖变化，且Ag-NOR数量未增加。蛋白质免疫印迹分析显示，孕酮和MPA增加了子宫内膜中100 kDa蛋白（核仁素）和37 kDa蛋白（B23蛋白）的量以及明显的增殖变化，而E2则没有。这些结果表明，虽然孕激素和雌激素均能增加Ag-NOR数量，但只有孕激素能显著增加兔子宫中的Ag-NOR蛋白。这意味着核仁素和B23蛋白量的增加与细胞的增殖潜能相关。
