Combs David J, Moult Eric M, England Sarah K, Cohen Adam E
Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
PNAS Nexus. 2024 Oct 4;3(10):pgae446. doi: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae446. eCollection 2024 Oct.
Uterine contraction patterns vary during the ovulatory cycle and throughout pregnancy, but prior measurements have produced limited and conflicting information on these patterns. We combined a virally delivered genetically encoded calcium reporter (GCaMP8m) and ultra-widefield imaging in live nonpregnant mice to characterize uterine calcium dynamics at organ scale throughout the estrous cycle. Prior to ovulation (proestrus and estrus), uterine excitations primarily initiated in a region near the oviduct, but after ovulation (metestrus and diestrus), excitations initiated at loci homogeneously distributed throughout the organ. The frequency of excitation events was lowest in proestrus and estrus, higher in metestrus, and highest in diestrus. These results establish a platform for mapping uterine activity and demonstrate that an anatomically localized trigger for uterine excitations depends on the estrous cycle phase.
子宫收缩模式在排卵周期和整个孕期都会有所不同，但之前的测量所提供的关于这些模式的信息有限且相互矛盾。我们将病毒递送的基因编码钙报告基因（GCaMP8m）与超宽视野成像相结合，对未怀孕的活体小鼠进行研究，以在整个发情周期中从器官尺度上表征子宫钙动力学。在排卵前（动情前期和动情期），子宫兴奋主要起始于输卵管附近的一个区域，但在排卵后（动情后期和间情期），兴奋起始于整个器官均匀分布的位点。兴奋事件的频率在动情前期和动情期最低，在动情后期较高，而在间情期最高。这些结果建立了一个用于绘制子宫活动的平台，并表明子宫兴奋的解剖学定位触发因素取决于发情周期阶段。
