Light microscopic localization of hepatic fatty acid binding protein mRNA in jejunal epithelia of rats using in situ hybridization, immunohistochemical, and autoradiographic techniques

An in situ hybridization technique using a 35S]-labeled oligonucleotide probe was employed, in combination with immunohistochemistry and autoradiography, to examine gene expression for hepatic fatty acid binding protein (FABP) in the jejunal epithelia from both fed and fasted rats. In rats fed ad libitum, immunoreactivity and mRNA signal for FABP were localized to the absorptive epithelial cells lining the villus, whereas they were absent in the crypt epithelial cells. The level of FABP mRNA was relatively low in the tip of the villus, although FABP immunoreactivity remained high in this area. Animals fasted for 3 days exhibited a downward shift of the lower boundary of the FABP-expressing cell population into the middle portion of the crypt, in terms of the immunoreactivity and the mRNA signal. The proliferative cell compartment of the crypt, as revealed by 3H]-TdR incorporation, showed no substantial change in size between the fed and fasted states. The present results provided evidence that (a) during the differentiation and upward migration of the absorptive epithelial cells, the expression of FABP gene begins at the crypt-villus junction and declines before the cells reach the villus tip, and (b) fasting induces an earlier expression of the FABP gene in the maturing crypt epithelial cells.