Histochemical Analysis Using Lectin in the Mouse Uterine Tissues with Experimentally-Induced Adenomyosis.

Abstract

Transplantation of a single anterior pituitary into the uterine lumen is known to induce the development of adenomyosis in mice associated with hyperprolactinemia. The uterine tissues of experimentally-induced adenomyosis were investigated histochemically with 21 kinds of biotinylated lectins and compared to control tissues of both intact mice and mice one day after parturition. Glandular and luminal epithelial cells and lymphocytes showed different lectin staining patterns between adenomyotic uteri and intact ones, whereas endometrial stromal cells and myometrial cells showed no differences. Even uteri at a very early stage of the pathological disorder already had changes in their lectin binding pattern. Some lectin groups had a different staining pattern between adenomyotic uteri and intact ones. Among them, some showed a similar pattern between adenomyotic uteri and uteri after delivery, and the others showed a different pattern between them. The former groups were closely related to an elevated level of circulating prolactin, and the latter to a pathological change in adenomyosis. This is the first evidence which shows that experimentally-induced adenomyosis involves substantial changes even at a very early stage of the pathogenesis.