title: Equine oviduct explant culture: a basic model to decipher embryo-maternal communication.
abstract: Equine embryos remain for 6 days in the oviduct and thus there is a need for an in vitro model to study embryo-oviductal interactions in the horse, since this subtle way of communication is very difficult to analyse in vivo. Until now, no equine oviduct explant culture model has been characterised both morphologically and functionally. Therefore, we established a culture system for equine oviduct explants that maintained epithelial morphology during 6 days of culture, as revealed by light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. We demonstrated the presence of highly differentiated, tall columnar, pseudostratified epithelium with basal nuclei, numerous nucleoli, secretory granules and apical cilia, which is very similar to the in vivo situation. Both epithelium and stromal cells originating from the lamina propria are represented in the explants. Moreover, at least 98% of the cells remained membrane intact and fewer than 2% of the cells were apoptotic after 6 days of culture. Although dark-cell degeneration, which is a hypoxia-related type of cell death, was observed in the centre of the explants, quantitative real-time PCR failed to detect upregulation of the hypoxia-related marker genes HIF1A, VEGFA, uPA, GLUT1 and PAI1. Since the explants remained morphologically and functionally intact and since the system is easy to set up, it appears to be an excellent tool for proteome, transcriptome and miRNome analysis in order to unravel embryo-maternal interactions in the horse.
authors.affiliation: Department of Reproduction, Obstetrics and Herd Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Salisburylaan 133, 9820 Merelbeke, Belgium.
authors.forename: Hilde
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nelis
authors.affiliation: Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, De Pintelaan 185, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: D'Herde
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, Genetics and Ethology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Heidestraat 19, 9820 Merelbeke, Belgium.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Goossens
authors.affiliation: Department of Reproduction, Obstetrics and Herd Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Salisburylaan 133, 9820 Merelbeke, Belgium.
authors.forename: Lynn
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vandenberghe
authors.affiliation: Department of Reproduction, Obstetrics and Herd Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Salisburylaan 133, 9820 Merelbeke, Belgium.
authors.forename: Bart
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Leemans
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ghent University, Harelbekestraat 72, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Katrien
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Forier
authors.affiliation: Department of Reproduction, Obstetrics and Herd Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Salisburylaan 133, 9820 Merelbeke, Belgium.
authors.forename: Katrien
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Smits
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ghent University, Harelbekestraat 72, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Braeckmans
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, Genetics and Ethology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Heidestraat 19, 9820 Merelbeke, Belgium.
authors.forename: Luc
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Peelman
authors.affiliation: Department of Reproduction, Obstetrics and Herd Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Salisburylaan 133, 9820 Merelbeke, Belgium.
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Van Soom
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary*; D015687:Cell Hypoxia / Q000235:genetics; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000502:physiology*; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005187:Fallopian Tubes / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D006736:Horses / Q000196:embryology* / Q000502:physiology*; D020287:In Situ Nick-End Labeling; D019344:Lactic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D008954:Models, Biological; D009092:Mucous Membrane / Q000166:cytology; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D017154:Stromal Cells / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D013997:Time Factors; D059467:Transcriptome
chemical_list: D019344:Lactic Acid; D005947:Glucose