IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL LOCALIZATION AND QUANTITATIVE-ANALYSIS OF SUPEROXIDE DISMUTASES IN FETAL AND NEONATAL RAT-TISSUES - FLUORESCENCE MICROSCOPY IMAGE-ANALYSIS

To quantitate the developmental changes in copper zinc and manganese s uperoxide dismutases (CuZnSOD and MnSOD) during the perinatal period, tissue sections were obtained from fetal (day 12 to day 22) and neonat al (day 6) rats, and were stained immunohistochemically using specific polyclonal antisera. The intensity of the staining was quantitated by fluorescence microscopy image analysis. There was a general trend of enriched SOD in the epithelial linings and metabolically active sites. Significant fluorescence was detected in hepatocytes, renal tubular e pithelium, bronchial epithelium and intestinal epithelium at fetal day 15. The intensity increased in a stepwise manner thereafter. The fluo rescent image for CuZnSOD was 1.6-fold more intense at postnatal day 6 than at fetal day 15 in each tissue studied. Similarly, the overall i ncrease in the intensity of MnSOD staining was 2.0-fold in the liver, kidneys, and lungs, and 1.8-fold in the intestine. The phase of rapid increase for both SOD started at day 19 in most tissues. These results suggest that the intracellular O-2(-)-scavenging system develops duri ng the perinatal period preferentially in epithelial tissues as an ess ential mechanism for living under atmospheric oxygen conditions.