THIAMINE PYROPHOSPHATASE CYTOCHEMISTRY IN RAT ENDOMETRIUM DURING THE ESTROUS-CYCLE

The functional morphology of the Golgi apparatus was studied in various types of cells in the rat endometrium during the oestrous cycle. A cerium-based enzyme-cytochemical method was used for the ultrastructural visualization of the activity of thiamine pyrophosphatase (TPPase). The cerium-based method was evidently superior to the classical lead technique, which was used for comparison. TPPase activity in luminal and glandular epithelial cells displayed cyclical modulation and redistribution. It was restricted to only one or two narrow trans lamellae during dioestrus but extended during proestrus and oestrus into nearly all trans-to-cis lamellae of the well-compartmentated Golgi apparatus. A homogeneous staining reaction, which was particularly intense during the latter two phases and only partly due to unspecific alkaline phosphatase, was confined to the apical and basolateral plasma membranes of luminal epithelial cells. In the stromal fibroblasts, only one short Golgi saccule was positive at dioestrus, whereas three or more trans Golgi lamellae were filled with reaction product during oestradiol-dominated oestrus. TPPase activity was furthermore observed in the lysosomes in epithelial cells, stromal fibroblasts, capillary endothelial cells and pericytes. The present findings of cyclic changes in TPPase activity in epithelial cells and stromal fibroblasts provide the first evidence of cyclic modulation and redistribution of this enzyme in the endometrium.