Influence of Estradiol on Alkaline Phosphatase Activity in the Genital Tract of the Rat.

Abstract

Estradiol causes a spectacular increase in the alkaline phosphatase activity of the genital tract of the rat. This is most marked in the stratified epithelium lining the lumen of the cervix where the dispostion of the enzyme is approx. 10 times as great in the extradiol-treated animal as in the castrate, but it is also apparent in the connective tissue cells of the stroma of the uterus, and uterine cervix and in the circular musculature of the upper part of the genital tract. In constrast to the stratified epithelium of the cervix and of the vagina, the columnar epithelium of the uterus shows very little phosphatase activity in the presence or absence of estradiol stimulation.