Muc1 and glycan expression in the oviduct and endometrium of a new world monkey, Cebus apella

Cebus apella is a New World monkey that has a menstrual cycle of 18-23 days with implantation at approximately luteal Day 5, The aim of this study was to characterize by lectin- and antibody-labeling the distribution of Mud a nd associated glycans on the endometrial and oviductal epithelium during th e luteal phase of the cycle, Endometrial histology showed a thin endometriu m, with glands extending deeply into the myometrium, No obvious evidence of secretory differentiation in cells of either the superficial or the basal segments of glands could be obtained using a panel of antibodies and lectin s that marked epithelial glycoprotein, and glycosylation changes observed i n some other primate endometrial cycles were not observed in this study, An tibodies to human MUC1 were shown to cross-react with C, apella, and Mud wa s localized to the apical epithelial surfaces of both the endometrial and t he tubal epithelium, with stronger expression in the latter. Again, no cycl ic changes were noted, Antibodies specific to the isoform Muc1/Sec showed s trong staining at the apical tubal epithelium, but no reactivity was detect able in the luminal epithelium of the uterus. This observation suggests dif ferences between the two glycocalyces and could help to explain why C, apel la embryos do not implant in this location.