Expression of stathmin family genes in the murine uterus during early pregnancy

Stathmin, a cytosolic phosphoprotein that regulates microtubule dynamics during cell‐cycle progression, is abundantly expressed at embryo implantation sites in rats. Here, we characterized the expression of stathmin and its family genes in the murine uterus during the peri‐implantation period. Stathmin protein was expressed in the glandular and luminal epithelium, blood vessels, and stromal cells on day 3 of pregnancy. On the day of implantation (day 5), stathmin was mainly localized in blood vessels in the endometrium. On day 7, intense stathmin expression was limited to capillary vessels and secondary decidual cells. Stathmin expression was higher at implantation sites than at uterine segments between implantation sites and increased during oil‐induced decidualization. Although the artificially‐induced deciduoma weights and number of implantation sites were similar between stathmin‐knockout (KO) and wild‐type (WT) mice, the stathmin‐KO mice had fewer newborn pups (reduced by 30%). The expression of alkaline phosphatase, desmin, and cyclin D3 was attenuated in decidual zones of stathmin‐KO mice. Messenger RNA level of the stathmin family gene, SCG10, was high at the time of decidualization in WT and stathmin‐KO mice. In contrast, the others of stathmin family members, SCLIP and RB3 were highly expressed in stathmin‐KO mice compared to WT mice. These results suggest that stathmin and stathmin family genes are expressed in the murine endometrium with enhanced expression in the implantation or the decidualization process. Mol. Reprod. Dev. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

微管不稳定蛋白（Stathmin）是一种胞质磷蛋白，在细胞周期进程中调节微管动力学，在大鼠胚胎着床位点大量表达。在此，我们对围着床期小鼠子宫中微管不稳定蛋白及其家族基因的表达进行了研究。在妊娠第3天，微管不稳定蛋白在腺上皮、腔上皮、血管和基质细胞中表达。在着床日（第5天），微管不稳定蛋白主要定位于子宫内膜的血管中。在第7天，强烈的微管不稳定蛋白表达局限于毛细血管和次级蜕膜细胞。着床位点的微管不稳定蛋白表达高于着床位点之间的子宫段，并且在油诱导的蜕膜化过程中表达增加。尽管微管不稳定蛋白敲除（KO）小鼠和野生型（WT）小鼠的人工诱导蜕膜瘤重量和着床位点数量相似，但微管不稳定蛋白敲除小鼠的新生幼崽数量较少（减少了30%）。在微管不稳定蛋白敲除小鼠的蜕膜区，碱性磷酸酶、结蛋白和细胞周期蛋白D3的表达减弱。在野生型和微管不稳定蛋白敲除小鼠蜕膜化时，微管不稳定蛋白家族基因SCG10的信使RNA水平较高。相比之下，与野生型小鼠相比，微管不稳定蛋白家族的其他成员SCLIP和RB3在微管不稳定蛋白敲除小鼠中高表达。这些结果表明，微管不稳定蛋白及其家族基因在小鼠子宫内膜中表达，并且在着床或蜕膜化过程中表达增强。《分子生殖与发育》© 2005威利 - 利斯公司