Aim: To investigate the spatial and temporal expression of germ cell nuclear factor (GCNF) in mouse and rat epididymis during postnatal period.
Methods: The epididymal sections from different postnatal days were stained for GCNF by the indirect immunofluorescence technique and digital photographs were taken by a Carl Zeiss confocal microscope.
Results: GCNF was first detected on day 12 in mouse epididymis and day 14 in rat epididymis. The highest expression of GCNF was observed on day 35 in both mouse and rat epididymis. In adults, GCNF exhibited a region-specific expression pattern, i.e., it was expressed predominantly in the initial segment, caput and proximal corpus of rat epididymis and was abundant in the proximal corpus of mouse epididymis. GCNF could be found in the nuclei of the principal, apical, narrow, clear and halo cells.
Conclusion: GCNF may play an important role in epididymal differentiation and development and in sperm maturation.