•  
  •  
 

Turkish Journal of Veterinary & Animal Sciences

Abstract

Leucine-rich repeat-containing G-protein coupled receptor 5 (LGR5) has recently been considered as a stem cell marker seen especially in mitotically active tissues. The aim of the present study was to investigate the immunohistochemical expression of LGR5 in the bovine reproductive tract, which is regularly renewed in response to hormonal changes throughout the estrous cycle. The oviduct (ampulla, isthmus, and fimbria), uterus, and ovary tissue samples were collected from 12 cows at a local slaughterhouse. The samples were further identified as follicular (n = 6) or luteal (n = 6), subjected to routine histological procedures, and processed for immunohistochemical expression of LGR5. In the oviduct, LGR5 immunoreactivity was localized in the mucosal epithelial lining, especially in the ampulla and fimbria of both follicular and luteal samples. In the ovary, immunoreactivity was limited to some surface epithelial cells and the corpus luteum; it was not present in the connective tissue or vasculature. Granulosa cells were also immunoreactive for LGR5. In the uterus, the immunoreactivity was limited to the uterine glands in both periods. The finding of the presence of LGR5 immunoexpression in the epithelial lining of the oviduct and uterine glands and corpus luteum raises the question of whether those LGR5 immunopositive cells function as stem cells to renew the epithelial lining and drive steroidogenic cell proliferation and differentiation.

Author ORCID Identifier

AYTÜL KÜRÜM: 0000-0002-0170-0231

YASİN ÖZKABADAYI: 0000-0003-0326-3407

HAKAN KOCAMIŞ: 0000-0001-5202-3229

MUSTAFA TÜRK: 0000-0001-8202-090X

SİYAMİ KARAHAN: 0000-0002-2744-1717

DOI

10.55730/1300-0128.4418

Keywords

LGR5, cow, ovary, oviduct, uterus, estrous cycle

First Page

125

Last Page

133

Publisher

The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK)

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Download

Share

COinS