Rodríguez-Liñares B, Phaneuf S, López Bernal A, Linton E A
Nuffield Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Oxford, Women's Centre, John Radcliffe Hospital, UK.
J Mol Endocrinol. 1998 Oct;21(2):201-8. doi: 10.1677/jme.0.0210201.
It is suggested that corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) is involved in parturition. We have previously reported the presence of the CRH receptor subtype 1 (CRH R1) in human uterine myocytes. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether expression of the CRH R1 in myometrial tissue changes in pregnancy and labour. We used a quantitative competitive PCR method to measure the mRNA levels of this receptor in non-pregnant and in term pregnant myometrium before and at different stages of labour. The levels of mRNA for the housekeeping gene for glucocerebrosidase (GCB) were also determined. The results were expressed as a ratio of CRH R1 and GCB mRNA levels. We have found that in pregnancy the CRH R1 is down-regulated from a ratio of 0.093+/-0.011 in non-pregnant myometrium to 0.012+/-0.005 (P<0.001) in term non-labouring myometrium. No significant changes were observed in the CRH R1:GCB ratio in tissues sampled within 13 h (0.013+/-0.004) from the start of labour. In summary, normalised levels of CRH R1 are down-regulated in pregnancy and do not change during labour. We speculate that our results do not support a direct role for the CRH R1 receptor in myometrial stimulation.
有研究表明促肾上腺皮质激素释放激素（CRH）与分娩有关。我们之前曾报道过人子宫肌细胞中存在促肾上腺皮质激素释放激素受体1型（CRH R1）。本研究的目的是调查妊娠和分娩期间子宫肌层组织中CRH R1的表达是否发生变化。我们采用定量竞争PCR方法来测量该受体在未孕和足月妊娠子宫肌层在分娩前及分娩不同阶段的mRNA水平。同时也测定了葡萄糖脑苷脂酶（GCB）管家基因的mRNA水平。结果以CRH R1和GCB mRNA水平的比值表示。我们发现，在妊娠期间，CRH R1从未孕子宫肌层的0.093±0.011的比值下调至足月未临产子宫肌层的0.012±0.005（P<0.001）。在分娩开始后13小时内采集的组织中，CRH R1:GCB比值未观察到显著变化（0.013±0.004）。总之，CRH R1的标准化水平在妊娠期间下调，且在分娩过程中无变化。我们推测我们的结果不支持CRH R1受体在刺激子宫肌层方面起直接作用。
