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The Burro de Miranda is an endangered donkey breed. The dynamics of the immune system of the donkey's reproductive tract are essential to manage the fertility of these animals for the improvement and survival of the species. In mares, high numbers of immune cells infiltrating the endometrium promote endometrosis, which is still to be confirmed in jennies. Uterine biopsies of 32 jennies were evaluated based on the Kenney and Doig grading system used in mares. Hematoxylin and eosin stain was used to assess the infiltration and distribution of neutrophils and eosinophils. Macrophage and B and T lymphocytes endometrial distribution was conducted through immunohistochemistry. T lymphocytes were the most predominant cells in jenny endometrium, macrophages being the second. T lymphocytes were also found in the superficial and glandular epithelium. Eosinophils, neutrophils and B lymphocytes were the least common cells. No differences were found in the inflammatory infiltrate compared to the different endometrosis grades (IIA, IIB and III). This study mapped the immune cells in jenny's endometrium, providing core valuable information for additional immunological and reproductive studies in this species. It also highlighted significant differences in endometrial immune cell distribution between the jenny and the mare during estrus and diestrus, supporting the need to develop of a more suitable scoring system than the current Kenney and Doig categorization to assess the morphology and clinical feature of jenny's endometrium., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) are two important antioxidant enzymes involved in tissue homeostasis by protecting cells and tissues from an accumulation of reactive oxygen species. Information concerning antioxidant enzymes in the canine uterus is almost inexistent. This work intends to establish the pattern of distribution of SOD1 and GPx1 immunoreaction in canine endometrium throughout the estrous cycle, using 46 endometrium samples of healthy dogs representing different cycle stages (anestrus-10, proestrus-10, estrus-10, early diestrus-7, and diestrus-9). SOD1 distribution in canine endometrium showed cyclic variations (P ≤ 0.001), with higher immunoscores in the progesterone-associated stages. Changing immunoreaction also concerned the different epithelial structures considered (surface epithelium, superficial glandular epithelium, and deep glandular epithelium) (P ≤ 0.001), but it was always higher than in the stroma (P ≤ 0.001). Deep glandular epithelial cells usually showed higher scores of immunoreaction compared with the other epithelial cells. Interestingly, in epithelial cells, distinct subcellular patterns for SOD1 were seen: the nuclear labeling was observed in estrus and early diestrus (P ≤ 0.001), whereas an apical reinforcement was observed in estrus (P = 0.011) in the glandular epithelia but not in the surface epithelia. In general, GPx1 distribution in canine endometrium remained relatively unchanged throughout the estrous cycle (P = 0.169) despite the slight decrease observed from proestrus to early diestrus. The highest scores were found in anestrus and diestrus (P < 0.05), varying with of the structure considered. An apical reinforcement pattern was also found for this molecule, which peaked in proestrus and estrus (P < 0.005). In summary, the present study showed that SOD1 and GPx1 are consistently distributed in the canine endometrium. The cyclic changes registered for both molecules suggest that they may play important roles in endometrial physiology, probably in apoptosis and proliferation., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Endometrial adenocarcinomas are a rare type of tumour in cats. Though different morphologies have been reported, the most frequent histological type of feline endometrial adenocarcinoma (FEA) is the papillary serous. Characterization of molecular markers expression in FEA may contribute to clarify the pathogenesis of these tumours and to assess the differences between normal endometrium and FEA regarding the expression pattern of several proteins. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the immunohistochemical profile of a wide panel of antibodies (specific for ER-a, PR, Ki-67, CK7 and CK20) in twenty-four cases of FEA. Comparisons were made between FEA and feline normal cyclic endometrium in follicular (n = 13) and luteal (n = 10) stages. Except for Ki-67, all other molecular markers were assessed independently for the intensity of immunolabeling and for the percentage of cells expressing the protein. Results: This study showed that in FEA a loss of expression occurs for ER-a (P = 0.0001) and less markedly also for PR. The lost in sex steroid receptors concerns a decrease in both the proportion of labelled cells and the intensity of immunolabelling (P = 0.002 and P = 0.024, respectively). Proliferative activity, estimated via Ki-67 immunoreaction, significantly increased in FEA as compared to normal endometrium (P = 0.0001). Feline endometrial adenocarcinomas maintained the CK7+/CK20+ status of normal endometrium. However, FEA showed decreased CK7 intensity of labelling compared to normal endometria (P = 0.0001) and loss of CK20 expression, both in intensity (P = 0.0001) and in percentage of positive cells (P = 0.01), compared to normal tissues. Conclusions: Data gathered in this study suggest that proliferation in FEA accompanies ER-a down-regulation, possibly following activation of pathways mediated by local growth factors. Moreover, FEA retains combined expression of CK7 and CK20, as evidenced in normal endometrial epithelia, although a decrease in CK7 expression was observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]