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Query: UNIPROT:P56851 (epididymal)
 11,273 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Cultured rat caput and cauda epididymidal epithelial cells are shown to exhibit polarized properties characteristic of functioning epithelia. When grown on plastic substrates coated with reconstituted basement membrane, confluent monolayers of cells from both regions formed domes characteristic of other transporting epithelia. Immunocytochemical localization of three proteins characteristically associated with epithelial junctional complexes revealed that uvomorulin, zonula occludens 1 and cingulin were present in cultured epididymal epithelial cells and that their distribution was similar to that in the epididymal epithelium in vivo. These three molecules were not found in epididymal stromal cells. Cells from both regions growing in two compartment chambers developed an electrical resistance across the monolayer with a magnitude characteristic of high resistance epithelia. The optimal plating density of cells was 0.75 x 10(6) cells cm-2. The presence of reconstituted basement membrane on the filters did not affect the resistance of the cells. Inulin passage from basal to apical chambers was less than 2% over 24 h. These results show that several polarized functions of epididymal epithelial cells can be maintained in culture and that this type of culture system is useful for studying the function of the epididymis in vitro.
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PMID:Polarized functions and permeability properties of rat epididymal epithelial cells in vitro. 151 96

Micropuncture samples were taken from rats treated with 2.9 mg oestradiol valerate/day for 14 days, sham injected or untreated. Oestradiol valerate treatment reduced testicular weight and serum testosterone concentrations (P less than 0.05), but did not alter the movement of [3H]inulin into seminiferous tubules or those of the cauda epididymidis. [3H]Inulin concentrations in the seminiferous tubule fluids were always less than 8% of blood isotope concentrations, and those in cauda epididymal tubuule fluid were always less than 5% of blood isotope concentrations. It was concluded that the maintenance of the anatomical component of the blood--testis and blood--epididymal barriers (cell--cell tight junctions) is not androgen-dependent.
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PMID:Effect of oestradiol valerate on the rat blood--testis and blood--epididymal barriers to [3H]inulin. 729 44