Budding process during the organogenesis of the ventral prostatic lobe in mongolian gerbil

Abstract

The prostate is a mammalian gland that shows a complex process of organogenesis. Here, a morphological study to characterize the organogenesis of the ventral prostate lobe in male gerbils was conducted. The urogenital sinus (UGS) was dissected out and processed for paraffin embedding. Histological sections were subjected to cytochemical, immunofluorescence, immunohistochemical, and three-dimensional reconstruction techniques. We found that the first ventral buds emerged from the ventral urethral epithelium between the days 20 and 21 of prenatal life, reaching the ventral mesenchymal pad and initiating the branching process on the first day of postnatal life. The buds presented a V-shaped elongation, suggesting that the smooth muscle layer (SML) plays an important role during budding events. Indeed, whereas the androgen receptor (AR) was preferentially found in the UGS mesenchyme (UGM), estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) was localized in both the UGM and in the emerging buds. This study characterized the morphological aspects of the budding process in a different rodent from rat and mice, serving as a new model for future studies on developmental biology of the prostate.

The Expression of the Androgen Receptor and Estrogen Receptor 1 is Related to Sex Dimorphism in the Gerbil Prostate Development

“…The first epithelial buddings in mice, rats, and Mongolian gerbils appear around the 17th, between the 19th and 20th, and between the 20th and 21st day of intrauterine life, respectively. This difference may be caused by a longer gestation time in gerbils (Sanches et al, ). The postnatal development also occurs later in the Mongolian gerbil.…”

“…The initial development of the prostate involves complex epithelial–mesenchymal interactions that occur between the urogenital sinus epithelium (UGE) and the urogenital sinus mesenchyme (UGM) (Cunha, ; Timms, ; Sanches et al, ). Solid projections from the UGE, or prostatic buds (PB), invade the UGM, which in turn differentiates into three separate compartments: the periurethral mesenchyme, located in contact with the UGM; a layer of periductal smooth muscle layer (SM) that surrounds the UGM; and peripheral mesenchymes external to the periurethral smooth muscle layer (PSM) (Thomson and Marker, ; Sanchez et al, 2015).…”

“…In view of this practical limitation, the female Mongolian gerbil, which has a large functional prostate, constitutes a promising experimental model for research on the female gland. Moreover, breeding and handling of this strain are an easy task in the laboratory setting (Santos and Taboga, ; Sanches et al, , 2015; Jesus et al, ).…”

Prenatal exposure to ethinylestradiol alters the morphologic patterns and increases the predisposition for prostatic lesions in male and female gerbils during ageing

“…The treatment was performed during the prostatic morphogenesis of the gerbils, which starts between the 20th and 21st days of the prenatal period (Sanches et al . ). In the control group, four pregnant females received no treatment.…”

Telocytes play a key role in prostate tissue organisation during the gland morphogenesis

“…This species of rodent is a promising model for studies involving the prostate, as unlike other laboratory rodents, a functional prostate is present in females. Furthermore, this species has greater sensitivity to hormone treatments 4, 26, 27, 28, 29. For this purpose, immunofluorescence assays were performed on prostatic tissue, in addition to cultured prostatic cells.…”