アクティブボード・２００８年１２月
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研究発表を行った学会；
・第27回 日本アンドロロジー学会.
　２００８年７月４日～５日(京都)

タイトル；Regulatory mechanisms of Wolffian duct development by androgen signaling.
　
発表者；　村嶋　亜紀　氏
　　　（熊本大学　生命資源研究・支援センター　技術開発分野）
Abstract；
　The male reproductive tract is derived from Wolffian duct (WD), which initially develops in both male and female embryos. As an embryo develops, WD in male differentiates to epididymis, vas deferens and seminal vesicle under the influence of testicular androgen. In contrast, WD in female regresses and does not differentiate due to the lack of androgen. Thus, it has been well known that androgen is essential for proper WD development through histological analyses comparing between male and female embryos, and anti-androgeninc chemical exposure experiments. However, the developmental mechanisms of WD stabilization and differentiation have not been well understood.
In this study, we investigated cell proliferation and apoptosis in WD of androgen receptor knockout (AR KO) mouse. The apoptosis in the epithelium of AR KO mice was increased in comparison to that of controls whereas cell proliferation was not altered. We also analyzed WD-epithelium specific conditional AR KO mouse, and found that its WD develops normally during embryogenesis. These results suggest that mesenchymal AR signaling has pivotal roles both on the processes of WD stabilization and differentiation. Our recent study on a candidate growth factor that mediates epithelial mesenchymal interaction during WD development will be also reported.