Department of Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Monoclonal Antibody Research Center, Avicenna Research Institute, ACECR, Tehran, Iran; Immune and Gene Therapy Lab, CCK, Department of Oncology-Pathology, Karolinska University Hospital, Solna, Stockholm, Sweden.
Placenta. 2011 Sep;32(9):657-664. doi: 10.1016/j.placenta.2011.06.013. Epub 2011 Jul 18.
The presence of vitamin D receptor (VDR) and the identification of localized vitamin D3 synthesis in placenta and decidua implicate the importance of vitamin D3 in reproductive function. There is, however, no data on the expression profile of VDR in the mouse placenta and endometrium throughout the pregnancy period.
In the present work expression of VDR in reproductive tissues of pregnant mice at different gestational phases has been addressed. Expression of VDR was determined by semi-quantitative RT-PCR, Western blotting and immunohistochemistry.
The results showed that VDR mRNA and protein were expressed in decidua, placenta and ovary throughout the pregnancy. VDR gene expression in placenta was significantly elevated in late pregnancy when compared to that of mid pregnancy. Additionally, VDR expression level in decidua rose significantly as pregnancy progressed from early to mid stages. VDR expression in decidua of pregnant mice was higher in comparison to endometrium of non-pregnant mice. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that VDR protein is consistently expressed by luminal and glandular epithelial cells of decidua, giant cells, glycogen rich cells and labyrinth cells of placenta and by almost all follicular cell types of ovary. Surveying the expression of VDR at the protein level by Western blotting confirmed PCR results.
It seems that expression of VDR in reproductive organs is finely tuned during pregnancy indicating its eminent role in reproductive biology.
维生素 D 受体 (VDR) 的存在以及胎盘和蜕膜中局部维生素 D3 合成的鉴定表明维生素 D3 在生殖功能中的重要性。然而，关于 VDR 在整个妊娠期间在小鼠胎盘和子宫内膜中的表达谱尚无数据。
本研究旨在探讨 VDR 在不同妊娠阶段的孕鼠生殖组织中的表达情况。通过半定量 RT-PCR、Western blot 和免疫组织化学法测定 VDR 的表达。
结果表明，VDR mRNA 和蛋白在整个妊娠期间的蜕膜、胎盘和卵巢中表达。与中期妊娠相比，晚期妊娠时胎盘 VDR 基因表达显著升高。此外，随着妊娠从早期到中期的进展，蜕膜中的 VDR 表达水平显著升高。与未孕小鼠的子宫内膜相比，孕鼠蜕膜中的 VDR 表达水平更高。免疫组织化学分析显示 VDR 蛋白在蜕膜的腔上皮细胞和腺上皮细胞、巨细胞、富含糖原的细胞和胎盘的绒毛细胞以及卵巢的几乎所有滤泡细胞类型中均有表达。Western blot 检测 VDR 蛋白的表达水平进一步证实了 PCR 结果。
似乎 VDR 在生殖器官中的表达在妊娠期间得到精细调节，表明其在生殖生物学中具有重要作用。
