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Isolated bovine oviduct epithelial cells were cultured on plastic precoated with matrigel. The epithelial cells seeded on 10 mg/ml matrigel often organized themselves into hollow tubes or spheres with microvilli directed towards the lumen. This is the first report of describing the spontaneous tube formation of oviduct epithelial cells in vitro. The epithelial cells growing on this substratum became fully differentiated with the formation of junctional complexes and the production of secretory vesicles which migrated to apical plasmalemma. Epithelial cells seeded on 2 mg/ml matrigel (dry film) formed a subconfluent monolayer in 15-20 days after seeding. The histoarchitecture of the secretory cells growing on the matrigel dry film closely resembled that of intact epithelial cells. Occasional ciliated cells containing large numbers of mitochondria were observed in cell colonies growing on 2 mg/ml matrigel but they possessed very few intact cilia. The monolayer linearly incorporated 35S-methionine into proteins up to 8 hr in presence of estradiol or progesterone. The fluorography of the newly synthesized proteins indicated that the cell extracts of estradiol-stimulated cells contained an additional protein of approximate molecular weight of 60 kd as compared to the extracts of cells incubated without steroids or incubated with progesterone.

Endopeptidase isolated from the uterine fluid of oestrous rats was used to immunize rabbits. Immunoelectrophoresis of whole uterine fluid, purified uterine fluid peptidase and blood serum indicated that the peptidase is unique to uterine secretion and is not found in blood. The immunofluorescent protein tracing was carried out in frozen sections of the reproductive organs of immature rats, immature rats given oestrogen, mature cycling, pregnant and pseudopregnant rats. Specific immunofluorescence was observed in the luminal epithelium of the proximal portion of the oviduct of immature rats and mature rats irrespective of the stage of the cycle. The luminal epithelium and the epithelium of the endometrial glands of uteri obtained from pro-oestrous and oestrous rats showed the presence of the specific peptidase. The luminal and glandular epithelium of immature rat uterus showed the appearance of endopeptidase 40 hr after the injection of oestradiol. The presence of the uterine fluid peptidase was observed in the endometrial glands on Day 5 of pregnancy. Immunofluorescence analysis of ejaculated spermatozoa recovered from the uterus soon after mating showed accumulation of the enzyme at the head region.

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