IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL EXPRESSION OF MAMMARY TUMOR VIRUS ANTIGENS IN MAMMARY GLANDS OF VIRGIN MICE, IN RELATION TO Mtv GENES

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Abstract
MTV antigens in the resting mammary glands of GRS/A, SHN, C3H, and Balb/c virgin mice were detected by immunoperoxidase techniques using antiserum against MTV whole virion, gp 52 or p 25 to differentiate the expression between endogenous and exogenous MTV. Balb/c mice were crossed to infect MTV into each reciprocal hybrid or fosternursed inbred. Immunohisto‐chemical stainings of gp 52 in the formol‐fixed sections were almost the same as those of the whole MTV virion, and the results on various cases were as follows: In the mice with endogenous GR‐MTV, positivity was first observed at the age of 14 days, while the first expression of exogenous GR‐MTV was delayed to the age of 140 days. The mice with endogenous and/or exogenous SHN‐MTV showed the first antigen appearance at the age of 65 days, and those with exogenous C3H‐MTV did at the age of 80 days. The virgins with only endogenous C3H‐MTV came to express the antigen after the age of 200 days. Staining of p 25 in Carnoy‐fixed sections of MTV‐positive mammary glands was found in the supranuclear cytoplasm and apical surface of the glandular cells and the lumen, all of which are the site of A and B particles. By means of preembedding method for gp 52, the reaction products were ultrastructurally detected not only on the MTV‐budding apical surface, together with the intraluminal B particles, but also on the MTV‐free apical cell membrane of the glandular cells in the mammary gland of the GR virgins.