ABSTRACT
Objective To characterize the expressions of androgen receptor (AR) and estrogen receptor (ER) in penis skin of patients with congenital hypospadias. Methods Dorsal prepuce, ventral prepuce, and urethral plate were harvested from 30 patients with congenital hypospadias. The expressions of AR and ER in epidermal cells and dermal fibroblasts were assessed respectively by automated immunohistochemistry. Image Pro plus 6.0 was used to analyze the optical density (OD) value of AR and ER in different parts of epidermal cells and dermal fibroblasts. Results AR and ER were located mainly in nucleis of the squamous basal cells and prickle cells, and were also found in nucleis of subcutaneous fibroblast cells. The expression of AR was lower in epidermis of urethral plate than that of dorsal prepuce and ventral prepuce (P<0.05), but no significant difference was detected in dermal fibroblasts. The expression of ER was higher in epidermis of dorsal prepuce than that of urethral plate and ventral prepuce (P<0.05). The dermal expression of ER in fibroblast cells was increased successively in dorsal prepuce, ventral prepuce and urethral plate (P<0.05). Conclusion Lower expression of AR in urethral plate may contribute the development of hypospadias. Disorder of ER in dermal fibroblast cells of prepuce may play an important role in hypospadias.