Figure 6.

Androgen Played a Role Similar to Inhibitor of the BMP Pathway

A model of inhibition of the BMP pathway was constructed to elucidate the mechanism of androgen's effect on intestinal epithelial differentiation and proliferation. For counting of secretory and proliferative cells, 10 villi were randomly chosen for the goblet cells and enteroendocrine cells, and 10 crypts were randomly captured for the Paneth cells and BrdU⁺ cells. Data, indicated as mean ± SD, correspond to three independent experiments (n = 6 mice/group/experiment).

(A) For analysis of msx1 and Id1, downstream molecules of the BMP pathway, quantitative real-time PCR was performed.

(B) For the goblet cell count per villus, PAS staining was performed. Scale bar, 100 μm.

(C) For the Paneth cell count per crypt, IHC was performed with primary antibody to lysozyme. Scale bar, 20 μm.

(D) For the enteroendocrine cell count per villus, IHC was performed with the primary antibody to chromogranin A. Scale bar, 20 μm.

(E) For the BrdU⁺ cells per crypt, IHC was performed with primary antibody to BrdU. Scale bar, 20 μm.

(F) For the Olfm4⁺ cells per crypt, IHC was performed with primary antibody to Olfm4. Scale bar, 50 μm. ^∗p < 0.05, ^∗∗p < 0.01, and ^∗∗∗p < 0.001.