title: Expression of rat uterine serine proteinases homologous to mouse implantation serine proteinase 2.
abstract: Implantation serine protease (ISP) was first identified in the uteri of pregnant mice. It is thought that ISP may have an important role in the initiation of implantation. However, the expression status and detailed functions of ISP remain unclear. In this study, the expression of ISP was investigated in the rat uterus. The analysis of two rat genes registered in GenBank, accession nos. XM_220240 and XM_577076, exhibited high identities to the mouse ISP2 genes, respectively at an mRNA level. We labeled the former as rISP2a and the latter as rISP2b. Using RT-PCR, we found that both genes were expressed in the uterus. Specifically, rISP2a mRNA was detected in the uterus throughout pregnancy, whereas rISP2b mRNA was only expressed in the uterus from day 5 of pregnancy until the end of gestation. Expression of both genes was observed specifically within the endometrial gland epithelium. Furthermore, rISP2a was also observed to be expressed in the fetus and placenta, whereas rISP2b expression was observed in the fetus but not in the placenta. An expressional signal of the rISP2a gene was observed in the spongiotrophoblasts, giant cells and decidual endometrium in the placenta. In the embryo, the ventral specific region was positive in rISP2a and rISP2b gene expression. These findings indicate the possibility that the presently examined genes with high identity to mouse ISP2 may play some role not only during the implantation phase, but also in the development of the placenta and embryo.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Reproductive Physiology and Biotechnology, Department of Animal and Marine Bioresource Sciences, Graduate School Kyushu University, Hakozaki, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: Shinji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Oozono
authors.forename: Nobuhiko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yamauchi
authors.forename: Kyohei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nishimura
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.forename: Ryo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Kaiyu
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kubota
authors.forename: Shinya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aramaki
authors.forename: Fuminori
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.forename: Tomoki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Soh
authors.forename: Kei-ichirou
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kizaki
authors.forename: Masa-aki
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Hattori
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus / Q000201:enzymology; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D010920:Placenta / Q000201:enzymology; D011247:Pregnancy; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D013997:Time Factors; D014599:Uterus / Q000201:enzymology*
chemical_list: C436409:Prss29 protein, mouse; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases