Vomeronasal organ (VNO) is a tubular pheromone sensing organ in which the lumen is covered with sensory and non-sensory epithelia. This study used immunohistochemistry and lectin histochemistry techniques to evaluate developmental changes, specifically of the glycoconjugate profile, in the horse VNO epithelium. Immunostaining analysis revealed PGP9.5 expression in some vomeronasal non-sensory epithelium (VNSE) cells and in the vomeronasal receptor cells of the vomeronasal sensory epithelium (VSE) in fetuses, young foals, and adult horses. OMP expression was exclusively localized in receptor cells of the VSE in fetuses, young foals, and adult horses and absent in VNSE. To identify the glycoconjugate type, lectin histochemistry was performed using 21 lectins. Semi-quantitative analysis revealed that the intensities of glycoconjugates labeled with WGA, DSL, LEL, and RCA120 were significantly higher in adult horse VSE than those in foal VSE, whereas the intensities of glycoconjugates labeled with LCA and PSA were significantly lower in adult horse VSE. The intensities of glycoconjugates labeled with s-WGA, WGA, BSL-II, DSL, LEL, STL, ConA, LCA, PSA, DBA, SBA, SJA, RCA120, jacalin, and ECL were significantly higher in adult horse VNSE than those in foal VNSE, whereas the intensity of glycoconjugates labeled with UEA-I was lower in adult horse VNSE. Histochemical analysis of each lectin revealed that various glycoconjugates in the VSE were present in the receptor, supporting, and basal cells of foal and adult horses. A similar pattern of lectin histochemistry was also observed in the VNSE of foal and adult horses. In conclusion, these results suggest that there are increase in the level of N-acetylglucosamine (labeled by WGA, DSL, LEL) and galactose (labeled by RCA120) in horse VSE during postnatal development, implying that they may influence the function of VNO in adult horses.


中文翻译：

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马犁鼻器糖复合物特异性发育变化

犁鼻器 (VNO) 是一种管状信息素感应器官，其中腔内覆盖着感觉和非感觉上皮细胞。本研究使用免疫组织化学和凝集素组织化学技术来评估马 VNO 上皮细胞的发育变化，特别是糖缀合物谱的变化。免疫染色分析显示 PGP9.5 在胎儿、小马驹和成年马的一些犁鼻非感觉上皮 (VNSE) 细胞和犁鼻感觉上皮 (VSE) 的犁鼻受体细胞中表达。OMP 表达专门位于胎儿、幼马和成年马的 VSE 受体细胞中，而在 VNSE 中不存在。为了鉴定糖缀合物类型，使用 21 种凝集素进行了凝集素组织化学分析。半定量分析表明，WGA、DSL、LEL 和 RCA120 标记的糖复合物强度在成年马 VSE 中显着高于马驹 VSE，而 LCA 和 PSA 标记的糖复合物强度在成年马 VSE 中显着较低. s-WGA、WGA、BSL-II、DSL、LEL、STL、ConA、LCA、PSA、DBA、SBA、SJA、RCA120、jacalin 和 ECL 标记的糖缀合物的强度在成年马 VNSE 中显着高于马驹 VNSE，而成年马 VNSE 中用 UEA-I 标记的糖缀合物的强度较低。每种凝集素的组织化学分析表明，VSE 中的各种糖缀合物存在于小马和成年马的受体细胞、支持细胞和基底细胞中。在小马驹和成年马的 VNSE 中也观察到类似的凝集素组织化学模式。总之，这些结果表明，在出生后发育过程中，马 VSE 中 N-乙酰葡糖胺（由 WGA、DSL、LEL 标记）和半乳糖（由 RCA120 标记）水平增加，这意味着它们可能影响 VNO 的功能成年马。