TY  - JOUR
TI  - Differentiation of steroid-producing cells during ovarian differentiation in the protogynous Malabar grouper, <I>Epinephelus malabaricus</I>
AU  - Murata, Ryosuke
AU  - Karimata, Hirofumi
AU  - Kobayashi, Yasuhisa
AU  - Horiguchi, Ryo
AU  - Kishimoto, Kazuo
AU  - Kimura, Motofumi
AU  - Kobayashi, Tohru
AU  - Soyano, Kiyoshi
AU  - Nakamura, Masaru
T2  - The International Journal of Developmental Biology
AB  - To understand the mechanism of sex differentiation in the protogynous Malabar grouper Epinephelus malabaricus, we performed an immunohistochemical investigation of the expression of three steroidogenic enzymes, cholesterol-side-chain-cleavage enzyme (CYP11a), aromatase (CYP19a1a), and cytochrome P45011beta-hydroxylase (CYP11b), in the gonads during ovarian differentiation. Strong positive immunoreactivity against CYP11a, the key enzyme of steroidogenesis, and CYP19a1a which is essential for estrogen (17beta-estradiol) production, appeared first in the somatic cells surrounding gonial germ cells in undifferentiated gonads and throughout ovarian differentiation. However, positive immunoreactivity against CYP11b, which is important for androgen (11-ketotestosterone) production, first appeared in the cluster of somatic cells in the ovary tunica near the dorsal blood vessel after differentiation. CYP19a1a and CYP11b did not co-localize in any cells. These results indicate that there are two types of steroid-producing cells, estrogen-producing cells and androgen-producing cells, in the gonads of this fish, and they are distributed differently, suggesting that these cells are derived from different somatic cells. Estrogen-producing cells appeared prior to ovarian differentiation, while androgen-producing cells were first detected after ovarian differentiation. These results suggest that endogenous estrogen is involved in ovarian differentiation.
PY  - 2011
DO  - 10.1387/ijdb.103181rm
VL  - 55
IS  - 6
SP  - 619
EP  - 625
J2  - Int. J. Dev. Biol.
LA  - en
SN  - 0214-6282
SN  - 1696-3547
UR  - https://ijdb.ehu.eus/article/103181rm
Y2  - 2024/05/06/03:44:28
ER  -