Sexually differentiated lysosomal breakdown of exogenous cytochrome C in the rat nephron
Kiesewetter, F.; Kugler, P.
Zeitschrift für Mikroskopisch-Anatomische Forschung 99(5): 855-865
1985
ISSN/ISBN: 0044-3107 PMID: 3006375 Document Number: 244774
Cytochrome c (CYT c; 3 mg/100 g body weight) was injected intravenously normal and castrated rats of both sexes and the kidneys were used after 2 and 24 hours for light microscopic CYT c demonstration. After 2 hours CYT c is demonstrable only in lysosomes of all the 3 segments of the proximal tubule, chiefly in the S1 and S2 segments. After 24 hours the number and reaction intensity of positively reacting lysosomes decrease significantly in the S1 and S2 segments, whereas the S3 segments are free of reaction product. As a sex difference it is shown that after 2 hours lysosomes of the S1 and S2 segments give a stronger reaction in females than in males, whereas after 24 hours males react stronger than females. After castration females result in the same reaction pattern as normal animals, whereas male castrates show a stronger lysosomal reaction than normal males, after both 2 and 24 hours. It is concluded that CYT c is degraded more rapidly in the lysosomes of the S1 and S2 segments of normal and castrated females than in those of males.