Takemura M, Kimura T, Nomura S, Makino Y, Inoue T, Kikuchi T, Kubota Y, Tokugawa Y, Nobunaga T, Kamiura S
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Osaka University Medical School, Japan.
J Clin Invest. 1994 Jun;93(6):2319-23. doi: 10.1172/JCI117236.
Oxytocin (OT) is widely used to induce labor in the clinical setting. However, its physiological role in normal human parturition remains unclear. We demonstrated the enhanced expression of OT receptor (OTR) mRNA in chorio-decidual tissue, using the polymerase chain reaction after the reverse transcriptase reaction (RT-PCR) and Northern blot analysis. OTR gene expression in chorio-decidual tissue increased fivefold during the course of parturition. In situ hybridization of fetal membrane revealed the expression of OTR mRNA in maternally derived decidual cells. The OTR mRNA was also detected in fetally derived chorionic trophoblast cells. Immunohistochemistry, using a newly developed anti-OTR monoclonal antibody, demonstrated the distribution of OTR protein in fetal membrane. The distribution pattern of OTR protein and OTR mRNA was identical, indicating that the regulation of OTR expression occurs mainly at the transcriptional level. These results support the idea that the expression of decidual OTR regulates the initiation and amplification of labor. The implications of these findings with regard to the pathogenesis of preterm labor are also discussed.
催产素（OT）在临床中被广泛用于引产。然而，其在正常人类分娩中的生理作用仍不清楚。我们通过逆转录聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）和Northern印迹分析，证实了绒毛蜕膜组织中催产素受体（OTR）mRNA的表达增强。在分娩过程中，绒毛蜕膜组织中的OTR基因表达增加了五倍。胎膜的原位杂交显示，OTR mRNA在母体来源的蜕膜细胞中表达。在胎儿来源的绒毛滋养层细胞中也检测到了OTR mRNA。使用新开发的抗OTR单克隆抗体进行免疫组织化学分析，证实了OTR蛋白在胎膜中的分布。OTR蛋白和OTR mRNA的分布模式相同，表明OTR表达的调节主要发生在转录水平。这些结果支持这样一种观点，即蜕膜OTR的表达调节分娩的启动和放大。本文还讨论了这些发现对早产发病机制的影响。
