Immunohistochemical localization of cysteine-rich intestinal
protein in rat small intestine.
Fernandes, Pearl R., Don A. Samuelson, Warren R. Clark, and Robert J.
Cousins.
Food Science and Human Nutrition Department, Center for Nutritional
Sciences and Small Animal Clinical Sciences Department, University of
Florida, Gainesville FL 32611
APStracts 3:0205G, 1996.
Cysteine-rich intestinal protein (CRIP) is a LIM domain protein with a
double zinc finger motif. The protein is abundantly expressed in the
intestine, peritoneal macrophages, and peripheral blood mononuclear
cells. The function of CRIP is not known. The purpose of this study
was to determine the cellular distribution of CRIP in rat intestine,
as an initial step toward eventual determination of a function.
Immunohistochemical and immunogold labeling electron microscopy using
a purified polyclonal rabbit antibody to a synthetic peptide
representing a zinc-finger domain of rat CRIP were carried out on
sections of rat duodenum. Western blotting was used to detect signal
specificity of the antibodies. These immunohistochemical and electron
microscopy studies showed particularly high abundance of CRIP in the
cytoplasmic granules of Paneth cells of the intestine. Some evidence
of CRIP expression was also found in cells of the villus tip, but
abundance was less than that found in the Paneth cells. The
localization of CRIP in Paneth cells and its presence in mononuclear
cells suggests that CRIP may be involved in host defense mechanisms
and/or tissue differentiation/remodelling processes common to these
cell types.
Received 11 December 1995; accepted in final form 24 September
1996.
APS Manuscript Number G522-5.
Article publication pending Am. J. Physiol. (Gastrointest. Liver
Physiology).
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1996 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 7 October 1996