ABSTRACT
It is known that there are numerous chemotatic secretoneurin -immunoreactive nerve fibers and movable MHC class II -immunoreactive dendritic cells in the normal uterine cervix. And the relationships between them are not fully understood. The aim of this study is to reveal that secretoneurin could give to chemotatic influence to dendritic cells in inflammational state. Virgin female Sprague -Dawley rats (n = 20; approximately 2 months old; 200 ~250 g body weight) were used in this study. Animals (n = 10) were injected with 5% formalin (0.5 ml/day, 5 days) in experiment group. Animals were deeply anesthetized with 3.5% chloral hydrate (100 mg/kg, i.p.) and uterine cervix were removed. Immunostaining was done according to standard methods used routinely. In brief, tissue sections were incubated with primary antibodies generated in mouse anti -rat MHC class II antibody and mouse or rabbit anti -rat secretoneurin antibody for single and double immunostains. FITC for secretoneurin and rhodamine for MHC class II were used as secondary antibodies in double stains. Tissue sections were observed by using light and confocal laser scanning microscopes. The results were as follows; 1. Numerous secretoneurin -immunoreactive nerve fibers were located in the lamina propria and those were not found in the epithelium of normal rat uterine cervix. 2. MHC class II -immunoreactive dendritic cells were mainly located in the epithelium and the lamina propria of normal rat uterine cervix. 3. On the inflammation state, MHC class II -immunoreactive dendritic cells were mainly located in the lamina propria and those were not found in the epithelium of rat uterine cervix. According to above results, it is suggested that secretoneurin can give to chemotatic influence to dendritic cells in inflammational state. Therefore, secretoneurin is considered to be used for dendritic cell immunotheraphy.