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[Context]: Therapeutic management of primary aldosteronism requires accurate differentiation between aldosterone-producing adenoma (APA) and idiopathic hyperaldosteronism (IHA). However, little is known about the molecular features that delineate the difference between APA and IHA. Two different isoforms of 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (HSD3B1 and HSD3B2) are thought to be expressed in the human adrenal gland, but the lack of isoform-specific antibody has so far hampered mapping of these isoforms in APA and IHA. [Objectives]: The aim of our study is to develop and characterize isoform-specific monoclonal antibodies against HSD3B1 and HSD3B2. Using these antibodies, we determined for the first time the immunolocalization of HSD3B1 and HSD3B2 in normal human adrenal cortex as well as in adrenal specimens from APA and IHA. [Results]: Immunohistochemical analysis with isoform-specific antibodies revealed zone-specific expression of HSD3B1 and HSD3B2 in the adrenal cortex. HSD3B1 immunoreactivities were essentially confined to the zona glomerulosa (ZG), in which aldosterone is produced. In contrast, HSD3B2 was not confined to the ZG but was found across the zona fasciculata, which is where cortisol is produced. Moreover, immunohistopathological analysis of primary aldosteronism revealed a previously uncharacterized difference between APA and IHA. Notably, hyperplasia of ZG seen for IHA was accompanied by a robust expression of ZG isoform HSD3B1. In contrast, tumor cells in APA were not immunopositive to HSD3B1. Rather, a strong and dominant expression of HSD3B2 characterized APA. Moreover, perhaps due to compensatory responses to excess aldosterone, APA had an adjacent ZG whose immunoreactivities to HSD3B1 and HSD3B2 were profoundly reduced. [Conclusions]: Isoform-specific monoclonal antibodies against HSD3B1 and HSD3B2 may be of great value for immunohistochemical differentiation between APA and IHA.

To ensure the maintenance of tissues in mammals, cell loss must be balanced with cell production, the proliferative activity being different from tissue to tissue. In this article, the authors propose a new method for the quantification of the proliferative activity, defined as the S-phase fraction of actively cycling cells, by dual labeling with fluorescence and peroxidase immunohistochemistry using BrdU (marker of S-phase) and Ki67 antibodies (marker of G1-, S-, G2-, and M-phases) after a one-step antigen retrieval. In the generative cell zones of fundic and pyloric glandular stomachs, where the majority of cells were cycling, the authors measured a proliferative activity of 31%. In the epithelium of the forestomach and the skin, where cycling cells are intermingled with G0 and differentiated cells, proliferative activities were 21% and 13%, respectively. In the adrenal cortex, in which cycling cells were sparsely distributed, the proliferative activity reached 32%. During the regenerative process in the skin after a lesion, the proliferative activity increased in proximity to the wound. The present one-step dual-labeling method has revealed that the proliferative activity is different between tissues and depends on the physiological or pathological state.

Nocturnal enuresis in children and nocturia in the elderly are two highly prevalent clinical conditions characterized by a mismatch between urine production rate in the kidneys and storage in the urinary bladder during the sleep phase. Here we demonstrate, using a novel method for automated recording of mouse micturition, that connexin43, a bladder gap junction protein, is a negative regulator of functional bladder capacity. Bladder connexin43 levels and functional capacity show circadian oscillations in wild-type mice, but such rhythms are completely lost in Cry-null mice having a dysfunctional biological clock. Bladder muscle cells have an internal clock, and show oscillations of connexin43 and gap junction function. A clock regulator, Rev-erbα, upregulates connexin43 transcription as a cofactor of Sp1, using Sp1 cis-elements of the promoter. Therefore, circadian oscillation of connexin43 is associated with the biological clock and contributes to diurnal changes in bladder capacity, which avoids disturbance of sleep by micturition.