Prostate anatomy in motheaten viable (mev) mice with mutations in the protein tyrosine phosphatase SHP-1

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to study prostate and seminal vesicle anatomy in viable motheaten (mev) mice with mutations in the PTPN6 gene leading to a severe reduction in the activity of protein tyrosine phosphatase SHP-1. Homozygous mev mice exhibit multiple anomalies that include immunodeficiencies, increased proliferation of macrophage, neutrophil, and erythrocyte progenitors, decreased bone density and sterility. We analyzed macro- and microscopic anatomy of the seminal vesicle and prostate macro- and microscopic anatomy of 5 mev/mev and 8 wt/wt adult 7-week-old mice. Computerized morphometric analysis was performed to measure the relative changes appearing in the epithelial volume of the different prostatic lobes.