In:
Current Molecular Medicine, Bentham Science Publishers Ltd., Vol. 20, No. 8 ( 2020-12-29), p. 633-642
Abstract:
Recent studies have demonstrated that endometrial DNA
methylation is essential for embryo implantation during early pregnancy. Dnmt3a is one of the key enzymes for DNA methylation and could be expressed in the endometrium
regularly at this stage. Objective and Methods: In this study, we conditionally ablated uterine Dnmt3a using
progesterone receptor-cre (Pgrcre) to define the physiological roles of Dnmt3a in female reproduction. Results: We found that ovarian function was not apparently altered and the number of
embryo implantation sites in Dnmt3aloxP/loxP Pgrcre/+ (cKO) was not significantly varied during early pregnancy. Western blotting and immunohistochemistry results showed no
difference in expression or location of the estrogen receptor α (ERα) and mucin 1 (Muc1), the marker of uterine receptivity. Although the expression of decidual markers,
matrix metalloproteinase-2 (Mmp2), matrix metalloproteinase-9(Mmp9), and bone morphogenetic protein-2 (Bmp2), was slightly decreased in Dnmt3a cKO females, the
gross morphology of mice uteri during decidualization was not significantly influenced. In the artificial induction of the decidualization model, there was also no remarkable
difference in visually observed morphology or uterine weight in Dnmt3a cKO. Lastly, a continuous breeding study showed that the fertility of Dnmt3a cKO female mice was not
strikingly altered. Conclusion: Overall, these results demonstrated that although some decidual markers
are expressed abnormally, conditional knockout of Dnmt3a in the uterus did not significantly affect the endometrial function during embryo implantation; the embryo
could implant into the endometrium normally.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
1566-5240
DOI:
10.2174/1566524020666200225115526
Language:
English
Publisher:
Bentham Science Publishers Ltd.
Publication Date:
2020
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