Summary
The pattern of distribution of antigens cross-reacting with antibodies to human blood group antigens A and B and two precursor molecules was examined by immunofluorescence in the epidermis, oral mucosa and forestomach of rats and mice. Staining for blood group antigen A was negative. In all epithelia examined, blood group antigen B was present at the surface of basal and parabasal cells, and the H antigen at the surface of spinous cells. N-acetyllactosamine was present on the cell membranes in the upper spinous and granular cell layers of epidermis and forestomach epithelium and was not expressed in the oral epithelia except for a limited area in the dorsal tongue epithelium.
Thus, the expression of antigen varies both regionally and, as earlier shown in human epithelium, with the stage of maturation of cells within a given epithelium. The observed sequence of expression of these antigens during maturation differs from that of human epithelia, but the present study provides a basis for further experimental studies of the role of cell surface antigens in epithelial homeostasis and maturation.
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Reibel, J., Dabelsteen, E., Hakomori, S. et al. The distribution of blood group antigens in rodent epithelia. Cell Tissue Res. 237, 111–116 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00229205
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00229205