Fahey John V, Rossoll Richard M, Wira Charles R
Department of Physiology, Borwell Building, Dartmouth Medical School, One Medical Center Drive, Lebanon, NH 03756, USA.
J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 2005 Jan;93(1):59-66. doi: 10.1016/j.jsbmb.2004.11.002. Epub 2005 Jan 25.
In mature female rats, sex hormones regulate the reproductive (estrous) cycle to optimize mating and fertility. During the part of the estrous cycle when mating occurs, and when estrogen is the dominant sex hormone, the uterus is susceptible to infection with bacteria that can be deleterious for survival and fertility. The present study investigated whether sex hormones regulate innate immunity in the female reproductive tract by affecting the secretion of an anti-bacterial factor(s) in the rat uterus. Uterine fluids from intact rats at the proestrous stage of the estrous cycle significantly inhibited Staphylococcus aureus growth. When ovariectomized rats were treated with estradiol, anti-bacterial activity against both S. aureus and Escherichia coli increased in uterine secretions with hormone treatment. In contrast, rats injected with either progesterone and estradiol or progesterone alone displayed no bactericidal activity indicating that progesterone reversed the stimulatory effect of estradiol on anti-bacterial activity. In other studies, isolated uterine epithelial cells from intact animals were grown to confluence and high transepithelial resistance on cell inserts. Analysis of apical secretions indicated that a soluble factor(s) is released by polarized epithelial cells which inhibits bacterial growth. These results demonstrate that sex hormones influence the presence of a broad-spectrum bactericidal factor(s) in luminal secretions of the rat uterus. Further these studies suggest that epithelial cells which line the uterine lumen are a primary source of anti-bacterial activity.
在成年雌性大鼠中，性激素调节生殖（发情）周期，以优化交配和生育能力。在发情周期中发生交配且雌激素为主要性激素的阶段，子宫易受细菌感染，这些细菌可能对生存和生育能力有害。本研究调查了性激素是否通过影响大鼠子宫中抗菌因子的分泌来调节雌性生殖道的天然免疫。发情周期中动情前期的完整大鼠的子宫液显著抑制金黄色葡萄球菌的生长。当对去卵巢大鼠用雌二醇治疗时，激素治疗后子宫分泌物中对金黄色葡萄球菌和大肠杆菌的抗菌活性均增加。相比之下，注射孕酮和雌二醇或仅注射孕酮的大鼠没有杀菌活性，这表明孕酮逆转了雌二醇对抗菌活性的刺激作用。在其他研究中，将来自完整动物的分离子宫上皮细胞培养至汇合，并在细胞插入物上形成高跨上皮电阻。对顶端分泌物的分析表明，极化上皮细胞释放一种可溶性因子，该因子可抑制细菌生长。这些结果表明，性激素影响大鼠子宫腔内分泌物中广谱杀菌因子的存在。此外，这些研究表明，子宫腔内衬的上皮细胞是抗菌活性的主要来源。
