Ulloa-Aguirre A, Uribe A, Zarinan T, Bustos-Jaimes I, Perez-Solis MA, Dias JA. their corresponding NaCl-treated rats (Fig. 2, and and and Table 2). The decrease in BDL cholangiocyte proliferation (by antide or anti-FSH antibody) was associated with an increase in the number of TUNEL-positive cholangiocytes (Table 2). By immunoblots, PCNA protein expression increased in cholangiocytes from normal male rats treated with FSH compared with controls (Fig. 2< 0.05 vs. cholangiocytes from normal rats treated with NaCl for 1 wk. #< 0.05 vs. cholangiocytes from BDL rats treated with nonimmune serum for 1 wk. Measurement of cAMP and IP3 levels and phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and Elk-1 in purified male cholangiocytes. In normal male rats treated with FSH for 1 wk, secretin-stimulated cAMP levels of purified cholangiocytes were significantly greater than secretin-induced cAMP levels of cholangiocytes purified from normal rats treated with NaCl (Fig. 3< 0.05 vs. the corresponding basal values. #< 0.05 vs. secretin-stimulated cAMP levels SB269652 of cholangiocytes from normal rats treated with NaCl for 1 wk. ns, not significant. < 0.05 vs. the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and Elk-1 of cholangiocytes from normal rats treated with NaCl for 1 wk. #< 0.05 vs. the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 of cholangiocytes from BDL rats treated with nonimmune serum for 1 wk. The administration of FSH to normal male rats increased the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and Elk-1 compared with cholangiocytes from rats treated with NaCl (Fig. 3and < 0.05 vs. its corresponding basal value. < 0.05 vs. its corresponding basal value. < 0.05 vs. its corresponding basal value. < 0.05 SB269652 vs. corresponding basal values. Evaluation of FSH expression by cholangiocytes: role of FSH in the autocrine regulation of cholangiocyte growth. By semiquantitative immunohistochemistry in liver sections, real-time PCR in RNA cholangiocytes, and immunofluorescence in NRICC, we demonstrated that cholangiocytes express the message and protein for FSH (Figs. 5, and and ?and6,6, and and and Table 2). The administration of antide or anti-FSH antibody to SB269652 female and male BDL rats decreased cholangiocyte FSH expression compared with cholangiocytes from BDL rats treated with nonimmune serum (Table 2). Open in a separate window Fig. 5. < 0.05 vs. FSH levels SB269652 of female cholangiocytes from normal rats treated with NaCl. #< 0.05 vs. FSH levels of female cholangiocytes from BDL rats treated with nonimmune serum. For real-time PCR, data are means SE of 3 experiments. graph represents the message for FSH expressed by male cholangiocytes, hepatocytes, and NRICC. Data are means SE of 7 evaluations. *< 0.05 vs. FSH levels of male cholangiocytes from normal rats treated with NaCl. #< 0.05 vs. FSH levels of male cholangiocytes from BDL rats treated with nonimmune serum. For real-time PCR, data are means SE of 3 experiments. < 0.05 vs. its corresponding basal value. #< 0.05 vs. the corresponding value of NRICC treated with supernatant Rabbit Polyclonal to PITPNB from female or male normal and BDL cholangiocytes. We demonstrated that and and and and < 0.05) compared with the NRICC-puro cell line. DISCUSSION Our study demonstrated that 1) normal and BDL female and male cholangiocytes and polarized NRICC express FSH receptor, without significant differences in the expression of this receptor among the two sexes; 2) chronic in vivo administration of FSH to normal female and male rats induced an increase in cholangiocyte proliferation and secretin-stimulated cAMP levels (a functional index of cholangiocyte growth) (20, 24, 37, 40), an increase that may also be due to the enhanced expression of FSHR in the biliary epithelium following the administration of FSH; 3) cholangiocyte proliferation and secretin-stimulated SB269652 cAMP levels induced by BDL (3, 24, 38) are decreased by the simultaneous administration of antide.