title: Expression and regulation of Foxa2 in the rat uterus during early pregnancy.
abstract: The forkhead box a (Foxa) protein family has been found to play important roles in mammals. Recently, the expression of Foxa2 was reported in the mouse uterus, and it was reported to be involved in regulation of implantation. However, the regulation of Foxa2 expression in the uterus is still poorly understood. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the expressional profiles of Foxa2 in the rat uterus during the estrus cycle and pregnancy. Furthermore, the effect of steroid hormones and Hedgehog protein on the expression of Foxa2 was analyzed in vivo and in vitro. In this study, the level of expression of Foxa2 was low in the rat uterus during the different stages of the estrus cycle. However, the expression increased transiently during early pregnancy at 3.5 days post coitus (dpc) and decreased at 5.5 dpc. In ovariectomized rats, P4 treatment had no effect on the expression of Foxa2 compared with the expression in control animals. Moreover, the expression of Foxa2 in cultured epithelial cells was not increased by P4 treatment in vitro. However, Foxa2 expression was significantly decreased in the rat uterus after 24 h of E2 treatment. Treatment of cells with a recombinant Hedgehog protein significantly increased the expression of Foxa2. These results suggest that the expression of Foxa2 may transiently increase just before the implantation and it may be regulated by E2 and Hedgehog protein.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal and Marine Bioresource Sciences, Graduate School Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamagami
authors.forename: Nobuhiko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yamauchi
authors.forename: Kaiyu
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kubota
authors.forename: Sho
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nishimura
authors.forename: Vishwajit Sur
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Chowdhury
authors.forename: Kenichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamanaka
authors.forename: Masashi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Shoji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tabata
authors.forename: Masa-aki
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Hattori
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004717:Endometrium / Q000166:cytology; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000737:chemistry; D004971:Estrus / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D053823:Hedgehog Proteins / Q000494:pharmacology; D051542:Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor 3-beta / Q000032:analysis*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D011247:Pregnancy; D011270:Pregnancy, Animal / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000494:pharmacology; D014599:Uterus / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: C496504:Foxa2 protein, rat; D053823:Hedgehog Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D051542:Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor 3-beta