Studying the expression patterns of OCT4 and SOX2 proteins in regenerating rabbit ear tissue

Epimorphic regeneration in New Zealand rabbit ear is an interesting example of mammalian wound healing in which blastema formation is involved in replacement of injured tissues. It has been suggested that isolated cells from regenerating rabbit ear possess stem-like properties. In this study, we aimed to determine the expression of stemness markers, OCT4 and SOX2 proteins, in regenerating rabbit tissues by immunohistochemistry. Results indicated that both proteins could be detected in epithelial cells, hair follicle cells and perichondrium cells. Expression pattern analysis of OCT4 and SOX2 proteins showed no clear differences between regenerative and non-regenerative control tissues. According to several reports of OCT4 and SOX2 proteins expression in adult stem cells, it could be proposed that OCT4 and SOX2 expressing cells in regenerating rabbit ear tissues are progenitor/adult stem cells which are resident in these tissues, and other markers should be used for detection of blastema cells.