| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
|
|
|
|||||||
|
|||||||||
* Department of Biomedical Sciences and
Department of Pathobiology, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada;
Center for Transgene Technology, Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; and
Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Placenta growth factor (PlGF; formerly PGF), a vascular endothelial growth factor gene family member, is expressed in human implantation sites by maternal uterine NK (uNK) and fetal trophoblast cells. Lower than normal concentrations of blood and urinary PlGF have been associated with impending onset of pre-eclampsia, a hypertensive disease of late human gestation characterized by limited intravascular trophoblast invasion. In pregnant rodents, delivery of the PlGF antagonist sFlt-1 or S-endoglin induces pre-eclampsia-like lesions. Mice genetically deleted in PlGF reproduce, but neither their implantation sites nor their uNK cell development are described. We combined real-time PCR of endometrium from nonpregnant and gestation day (gd)6–18 C57BL6/J (B6) mice with immunohistology to analyze PlGF expression in normal mouse pregnancy. To estimate the significance of uNK cell-derived PlGF, PlGF message was quantified in mesometrial decidua from pregnant alymphoid Rag2 null/common 
chain null mice and in laser capture-microdissected B6 uNK cells. Histopathologic consequences from PlGF deletion were also characterized in the implantation sites from PlGF null mice. In B6, decidual PlGF expression rose between gd8–16. uNK cells were among several types of cells transcribing PlGF in decidualized endometrium. Immature uNK cells, defined by their low numbers of cytoplasmic granules, were the uNK cells displaying the greatest number of transcripts. PlGF deletion promoted the early differentiation high numbers of binucleate uNK cells (gd8) but had no other significant, morphometrically detectable impact on implantation sites. Thus, in mice, PlGF plays an important role in successful uNK cell proliferation and/or differentiation.
The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked advertisement in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
1 Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Chandrakant Tayade, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario Canada. E-mail address: ctayade{at}uoguelph.ca
2 Abbreviations used in this paper: PlGF, placenta growth factor; VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor; VEGFR, VEGF receptor; uNK, uterine NK; PL, placenta; gd, gestation day; MLAp, mesometrial lymphoid aggregate of pregnancy; c, common -chain; LCM, laser capture microdissection; DB, decidua basalis; DBA, Dolichos biflorus agglutinin; AG, agranular; IM, immature; aRNA, antisense RNA; PAS, periodic acid-Schiff; WT, wild type.
Related articles in The JI:
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  T. V. Mallidi, L. E. Craig, S. R. Schloemann, and J. K. Riley Murine Endometrial and Decidual NK1.1+ Natural Killer Cells Display a B220+CD11c+ Cell Surface Phenotype Biol Reprod, August 1, 2009; 81(2): 310 - 318. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. A. Wu, B. L. Johnson, Y. Chen, C. T. Ha, and G. S. Dveksler Murine Pregnancy-Specific Glycoprotein 23 Induces the Proangiogenic Factors Transforming-Growth Factor Beta 1 and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A in Cell Types Involved in Vascular Remodeling in Pregnancy Biol Reprod, December 1, 2008; 79(6): 1054 - 1061. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. Zhang, H. Dong, B. Wang, S. Zhu, and B. A. Croy Dynamic Changes Occur in Patterns of Endometrial EFNB2/EPHB4 Expression During the Period of Spiral Arterial Modification in Mice Biol Reprod, September 1, 2008; 79(3): 450 - 458. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 S. D. Burke, H. Dong, A. D. Hazan, and B. A. Croy Aberrant Endometrial Features of Pregnancy in Diabetic NOD Mice Diabetes, December 1, 2007; 56(12): 2919 - 2926. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 C. Tayade, Y. Fang, D. Hilchie, and B. A. Croy Lymphocyte contributions to altered endometrial angiogenesis during early and midgestation fetal loss J. Leukoc. Biol., October 1, 2007; 82(4): 877 - 886. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
