doi:10.1369/jhc.6A7005.2006
Volume 54 (10): 1139-1147, 2006 Copyright ©The Histochemical Society, Inc. Expression of Prostasin and Protease Nexin-1 in Rhesus Monkey (Macaca mulatta) Endometrium and Placenta During Early Pregnancy
State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology (H-YL,HZ,QY,H-XW,H-MW,CZ) and Graduate School (HZ,QY,H-XW), 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: Prof. Cheng Zhu, State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 25 Bei Si Huan Xi Lu, Haidian District, Beijing 100080, China. E-mail: zhuc{at}ioz.ac.cn Co-corresponding author: Dr. Li-Mei Chen. E-mail: zhuc{at}ioz.ac.cn
Serine proteases have been documented to play key roles in uterine matrix turnover and trophoblastic invasion during implantation. Roles of prostasin serine protease in these processes, however, are currently unclear. The present study was first conducted to investigate the colocalization of prostasin and its cognate serpin, protease nexin-1 (PN-1), in rhesus monkey endometrium and placenta on days 12, 18, and 26 of pregnancy by using in situ hybridization (ISH) and immunohistochemistry. With ISH, expression of prostasin mRNA was intensely localized in the glandular epithelium on days 12 and 18 and in the placental villi, trophoblastic column, trophoblastic shell, and fetalmaternal border on days 18 and 26. With the progress of pregnancy, expression level in the glandular epithelium was significantly decreased, and the accumulation in the placental compartments was further increased. In addition, the stroma and arterioles exhibited modest levels of prostasin signals. However, expression level of PN-1 in these compartments on adjacent sections in the three stages of early pregnancy was weak or below the level of detection. Prostasin protein expression in the endometrium was found to be consistent with the distribution patterns revealed in the ISH experiments. It may be suggested from these results that prostasin is involved in endometrial epithelial morphology establishment, tissue remodeling, and trophoblastic invasion during early pregnancy. The cognate serpin PN-1 was not coordinately expressed along with prostasin, creating a tissue environment favorable for proteolytic activities of prostasin during early pregnancy events. (J Histochem Cytochem 54:11391147, 2006)
Key Words: prostasin protease nexin-1 endometrium placenta rhesus monkey pregnancy
EMBRYO IMPLANTATION, a process that involves dramatic trophoblast invasion and terminates with formation of the placenta in early pregnancy, is characterized by a regulated turnover of extracellular matrix (ECM) components. It requires tight control of proteolysis, as well as a balance between proteases and their inhibitors that determines the extent of trophoblast invasion, which is spatiotemporally restricted. Serine proteases and the serpin-class inhibitors have been suggested to play key roles in matrix remodeling and degradation in the uterus. Serine proteases are a family of hydrolases using the serine side-chain hydroxyl group to attack the carbonyl carbon of a target peptide and exhibit a tremendous range of target specificity (Bhagwandin et al. 2003
Prostasin, a serine protease originally purified from human seminal fluid (Yu et al. 1994
The serpin PN-1 can inhibit the activity of prostasin and bind to membrane-anchored prostasin (Chen et al. 2004 In the current study we used in situ hybridization (ISH) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) to localize prostasin and PN-1 transcripts and proteins in rhesus monkey endometrium during early pregnancy.
Animals and Tissue Collection All procedures involving animals were carried out in accordance with the Guidelines on the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals of the Ethical Committee, State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Uterine tissues of pregnant rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) were collected in the Center for Medical Primate, Institute of Medical Biology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences as detailed previously (Wang et al. 2001
Plasmid Constructs and Probe Synthesis
A full-length human PN-1 cDNA was amplified by PCR as described previously (Chen et al. 2004 Sense and antisense single-stranded RNA probes were synthesized using a digoxigenin (DIG) RNA labeling kit (SP6/T7) (Roche Diagnostics Ltd.; Indianapolis, IN). Yield of the riboprobes was determined using a spot test following the instructions of the manufacturer with a DIG-labeled RNA control, which is provided in the labeling kit. Spot intensities of the control and experimental probes were quantified using the MetaView image analyzing system version 4.50 (Universal Imaging Corp.; Downington, PA).
ISH
IHC
Statistical Analysis
In Situ Localization of Prostasin and PN-1 mRNA in Rhesus Monkey Endometrium and Placenta During Early Pregnancy ISH experiments were performed to investigate mRNA localization of prostasin and PN-1 in pregnant macaque uterus and placenta. As shown in Figure 1 and Table 1 , the glandular epithelium, placental villi, trophoblastic column, trophoblastic shell, and fetalmaternal border are the major sites of intense localization of prostasin mRNA in pregnant macaque uterus, whereas staining of PN-1 was relatively weak or hardly detectable in these compartments. In detail, prostasin mRNA was highly expressed in the glandular epithelium on day 12 of pregnancy (Figures 1A and 1B) (p<0.05) and modestly expressed in the stroma (Figures 1A and 1B) and arterioles (Figure 1B) (p<0.05). However, expression level of PN-1 on day 12 was below the level of detection (p>0.05) in the glandular epithelium and weak (p<0.05) in the stroma and arterioles (Figures 1F and 1G). Prostasin hybridization signals were abundantly localized in the placental villi (Figure 1C), trophoblastic column (Figures 1C and 1D), trophoblastic shell (Figure 1D), fetalmaternal border (Figure 1D), and glandular epithelium (Figure 1E) on day 18 (p<0.05) and were detected at moderate levels in the stroma and arterioles (Figure 1E) (p<0.05). Distinct from the expression pattern of prostasin, PN-1 exhibited faint signals in the trophoblastic column (Figures 1H and 1I), trophoblastic shell (Figure 1I), stroma (Figure 1J), and arterioles (Figure 1J) (p<0.05), with no discernible staining in the placental villi (Figure 1H), fetalmaternal border (Figure 1I), and glandular epithelium (Figure 1J) (p>0.05). On day 26, prostasin signals were dramatically intense in the placental villi (Figure 1K), trophoblastic column (Figure 1K and 1L), trophoblastic shell (Figure 1L), and fetalmaternal border (Figure 1L) (p<0.05), but the glandular epithelium (Figure 1M), stroma (Figures 1M and 1N), and arterioles (Figure 1N) exhibited only a moderate level of prostasin signals (p<0.05). In addition, signals in the placental villi, trophoblastic column, and trophoblastic shell on day 26 (Figures 1K and 1L) increased significantly (p<0.05) when compared with those on day 18 (Figures 1C and 1D). Intensities of prostasin mRNA in the glandular epithelium at three stages of pregnancy significantly (p<0.05) decreased with the progress of gestation (Figures 1A, 1B, 1E, and 1M). Only weak reactions for PN-1 were detected in the placental and endometrial compartments on day 26 (Figures 1P1S) (p<0.05). Representative negative control results of senseprobe hybridization for prostasin and PN-1 mRNA, respectively, are shown in Figures 1O and 1T in the endometrium on day 18.
IHC Localization of Prostasin and PN-1 Protein in the Macaque Endometrium and Placenta During Early Pregnancy IHC analysis was used to examine prostasin and PN-1 protein localization, which confirmed the data obtained by ISH. As shown in Figure 2 and Table 2 , the anti-prostasin antiserum produced strong staining in the glandular epithelium (Figures 2A and 2B) (p<0.05) on day 12 and in the placental villi (Figures 2C and 2D), trophoblastic column (Figures 2C and 2D), trophoblastic shell (Figure 2D), fetalmaternal border (Figure 2D), and glandular epithelium (Figure 2E) (p<0.05) on day 18. Furthermore, anti-prostasin immunoreactivity was moderate in the stroma and arterioles on days 12 (Figures 2A and 2B) (p<0.05) and 18 (Figure 2E) (p<0.05). On day 26, anti-prostasin immunoreactivities in the placental villi (Figure 2K), trophoblastic column (Figure 2K), trophoblastic shell (Figure 2L), and fetalmaternal border (Figure 2L) were intense (p<0.05). Specifically, signals in the placental villi and fetalmaternal border on day 26 (Figures 2K and 2L) increased significantly (p<0.05) when compared with those on day 18 (Figures 2C and 2D). However, prostasin signals in the glandular epithelium (Figure 2M), stroma (Figures 2M and 2N), and arterioles (Figures 2M and 2N) on day 26 were moderate (p<0.05).
IHC staining with anti-PN-1 antiserum revealed a general lack of expression of this protein. Only light immunopositive PN-1 reactions were detected in the endometrial compartments on day 12 (Figures 2F and 2G) (p<0.05) and in the placental and endometrial compartments on days 18 (Figures 2H2J) (p<0.05) and 26 (Figures 2P2S) (p<0.05). Negative control staining with normal rabbit serum on day 18 produced negligible background (Figures 2O and 2T).
Much evidence exists to show that serine proteases are involved in matrix degradation required for implantation. For instance, uPA and tPA are present in uterus or trophoblast (Hofmann et al. 1994
Embryo implantation occurs on day 9.5 of pregnancy in rhesus monkey (Enders et al. 1983
Subunits of the ENaC are expressed in the endometrial epithelium, and their expression is regulated by hormones and dietary sodium. However, a clearly defined role in the uterus for this ion channel is presently pending (Tsang et al. 2004
As PN-1 has been proven to be the inhibitor of prostasin (Chen et al. 2004 In conclusion, we have presented data that suggest a role for prostasin in the glandular secretion, endometrial matrix remodeling, early development of the villus, and trophoblastic invasion during macaque early pregnancy. PN-1 may not be involved in controlling prostasin activities during these events.
This work was supported by the Special Funds for Major State Basic Research Project of China, the Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KSCX3-IOZ-07), the Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Research Program , Grant #DAMD17-02-1-0032 (to KXC), and funds from National Institutes of Health Grant #HD-40241 (to L-MC).
Received for publication April 29, 2006; accepted June 6, 2006
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