Abstract
Surfactant protein A (SP-A) and Surfactant protein D (SP-D) glycoproteins play a crucial role in maintaining lung homeostasis and lung host defense. Interestingly, these proteins are also expressed in extra-pulmonary tissues, including the female genital tract. The ovarian tissue, where SP-A and SP-D expression increases with follicular development, may serve as the primary site of defense for this tissue. However, their functions in these tissues are not well understood and are currently an active area of research. Therefore, the objective of this study is to investigate the expression of SP-A and SP-D in the ovine ovary throughout the ovarian cycle using immunohistochemistry by semiquantitative intensity classification and Western blotting techniques. These findings revealed the presence of SP-A and SP-D in various compartments of the ovary, such as the follicular epithelium, granulosa cells, cumulus cells, theca cells, oocyte I, follicular fluid, and luteal cells of Graafian follicles, excluding the corpus albicans. SP-A and SP-D likely act as a first line of defense against potential pathogens that infiltrate the ovaries. Further investigation of the differential expression of SP-A and SP-D proteins in ovarian follicles will provide a basis for understanding their interactions with key proteins involved in oogenesis.
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Acknowledgements
We would you like to express our gratitude to Dr. Hitami Sano from Sapporo Medical University, Japan, for generously providing us with the antibodies.
Funding
Open access funding provided by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK). The present study did not receive any dedicated financial support from public, commercial, or not-for-profit funding bodies.
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OK, MÖ, AA, and HK designed the study. MÖ, and HK performed research.
MÖ, OK, AA, and HK analyzed and interpreted the data.
OK wrote the initial manuscript draft and MÖ and AA critically revised it.
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The experimental studies were conducted with ethical approval from the Ethics Committee of Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, Turkey (337, 18/10/2017).
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Özbek, M., Ata, A., Karaca, H. et al. Changes in surfactant protein A and D in ovine ovaries related to follicle development. Vet Res Commun (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11259-024-10367-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11259-024-10367-3