Figure 4.

Warfarin-Treated Rats Show Microenvironment Disorders and Apoptotic Epididymal Epithelial Cells

(A) Confocal projection and superimposed differential interference contrast images of CPS cryosections double immunolabeling for MGP (red) and GGCX (green) of rats under wild-type, VK1 control, +15 mg, and +30 mg warfarin conditions. Arrowheads indicate the shedding of epithelial cells and larger vesicles into the lumen of warfarin-treated epididymides.

(B) Triple-fluorescent labeling for TUNEL (red), clear cell marker B1-VATPase (green) and epithelial cell marker E-Cadherin (white) of epididymal cryosections of the different groups. Note the reduced signals of B1-VATPase and E-cadherin in the epithelium of +15 mg and +30 mg warfarin-treated groups in a dosage-dependent manner. There are numerous TUNEL-positive cells (asterisks) and some B1-VATPase positive cells (arrowheads) in the lumen, particularly in the +30 mg group. Inset: higher magnification image showing the +30 mg treated epididymis.

Scale bars, 50 μm in A and B, 10 μm in the inset.