This study was conducted to demonstrate the effect of castration on the structure of vesicular glands of the
Egyptian Nubian (Zaraibi) goat. Vesicular glands of castrated (n = 4) and intact (n = 6) goat were used for
histological and immunohistochemical evaluations. In this study, we report the difference in cell specific
expression of androgen receptor (AR) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) in the vesicular glands of castrated
and intact goats. In both castrated and intact goats, the present study revealed no immunopositive cells
for AR or COX-2 in the fibromuscular stroma meanwhile, AR and COX-2 containing immunoreactive
cells were restricted only to the epithelium of the secretory acini of the vesicular gland. Such finding
suggests androgen and COX-2 as important regulators for the growth and secretory activity of epithelial
cells in the vesicular gland of goats. Overall, the vesicular gland of castrated goats showed significantly
(P < 0.05) lower AR and COX-2 immuno-expression than intact goats indicating that both AR and COX-2
are androgen dependent |
