Journal: International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Article Title: Ultrastructural Features, Immune Response, and Junctional Proteins in the Seminiferous Epithelium of SARS-CoV-2-Infected Mice
doi: 10.3390/ijms27020691
Figure Lengend Snippet: ( A – D ): Photomicrographs of testicular sections of animals showing double immunofluorescence for hACE2 and spike in animals from CG and IG ( A – D ). Nuclear staining with DAPI. In ( A – D ), sections of seminiferous tubules at stages VII–VIII show hACE2 immunoexpression (arrows) in both groups. In ( B – D ), in addition to hACE2 (arrows), spike immunolabeling (arrowheads) is observed throughout the seminiferous epithelium of IG. In ( C , D ), enhanced spike and hACE2 immunolabeling is observed in damaged regions of the seminiferous epithelium, which show reduced height (double headed arrow) and intraepithelial spaces due to loss of germ cells (*). ( E – G ) : Photomicrographs of testicular sections of animals showing immunofluorescence for nucleocapsid protein in animals from IG. Nuclear staining with DAPI. In ( E ), seminiferous tubules at stages VII–VIII show nucleocapsid immunolabeling (arrows) in Sertoli cells (inset 1), round spermatids (inset 2), and flagellum of elongate spermatids (inset 3). In ( F , G ), nucleocapsid immunoreaction is observed in Sertoli cells’ cytoplasm and elongate spermatids (arrows) of IG. (SC) Sertoli cell nucleus. SC nucleolus (arrowheads). ( H ): A weak angiotensin II signal is observed in CG when compared to a strong signal in IG. The β-tubulin signal is observed in both groups. A significant increase in angiotensin II optical density (OD) is observed in IG when compared to CG.
Article Snippet: All sections were incubated in 2% BSA for 30 min, and incubated at 4 °C overnight with the following primary antibodies: mouse anti-hACE2 monoclonal antibody (RRID: AB_2861379, 1:500, Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Dallas, TX, USA, SC-73668, lot: #G1222), rabbit anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike protein S1 recombinant monoclonal antibody (RRID: AB_2866477, 1:250, Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA, USA, MA5-36247, lot: XG3635472), rabbit anti-SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein monoclonal antibody (1:3000; EPR24334-118; Abcam, Cambridge, UK; ab271180), rabbit anti-Ki-67 monoclonal IgG antibody (1:200; Abcam, Cambridge, UK; ab16667), and rabbit anti-IFN-γ polyclonal IgG antibody (1:300, Invitrogen, cat. 95560, lot: XH3666559); mouse anti-TNF-α monoclonal IgG [52B83] antibody (1:200, Abcam, Cambridge, UK; ab1793, lot:GR3446230), rabbit anti-iNOS recombinant polyclonal IgG [RM1017] antibody (1;1500; Abcam, Cambridge, UK; ab283655, lot:GR3436095-8), mouse anti-connexin 43 monoclonal antibody (RRID: AB_10707826, 1:200; Santa Cruz Biotechnology; sc-271837), and rabbit anti-NF-kB p65 polyclonal antibody ab31481 (1:200; Abcam, Cambridge, UK; ab31481).
Techniques: Immunofluorescence, Staining, Immunolabeling