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Expression of Prostasin Serine Protease and Protease Nexin-1 (PN-1) in Rhesus Monkey Ovary During Menstrual Cycle and Early Pregnancy

Heng Zhang, Hai-Yan Lin, Qing Yang, Hong-Xing Wang, Karl X. Chai, Li-Mei Chen and Cheng Zhu

State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology (HZ,H-YL,QY,H-XW,CZ) and Graduate School (HZ,QY), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China, and Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology (KXC,L-MC) and Biomolecular Science Center (KXC), University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida

Correspondence to: Cheng Zhu, State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, People's Republic of China. E-mail: zhuc{at}ioz.ac.cn

Serine proteases and their cognate serpin-class inhibitors are involved in the controlled proteolytic events during follicular development, ovulation, formation, and maintenance of the corpus luteum (CL). In this study, we investigated the expression patterns of prostasin serine protease and protease nexin-1 (PN-1), a serine protease inhibitor also called serpin-E2, in rhesus monkey ovaries during the menstrual cycle and early pregnancy, by using in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry. Expression of prostasin was localized in oocyte, granulosa cells, and/or theca cells of early antral follicles and antral follicles, with high levels observed in preovulatory follicles. Prostasin was also localized at high levels of abundance in the CL during the menstrual cycle and early pregnancy. During the menstrual cycle, PN-1 was coordinately localized with prostasin in oocytes, granulosa cells, and theca cells of antral follicles and preovulatory follicles and in the CL. In addition, the PN-1 expression level in macaque CL during early pregnancy increased as pregnancy proceeded. We propose that prostasin may be involved in follicular development, ovulation, and CL formation, whereas PN-1 may be present to regulate the proteolysis in these processes. (J Histochem Cytochem 55:1237–1244, 2007)

Key Words: prostasin • protease nexin-1 • ovary • primate

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