Embryo-endometrial expression of leukemia inhibitory factor in the golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus): increased expression during proestrous and window of implantation stages
Rajnish P. Rao A , Bernd Fischer B and Polani B. Seshagiri A CA Department of Molecular Reproduction, Development and Genetics, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, 560 012, India.
B Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Martin Luther University, Faculty of Medicine, Halle (Saale), D-06097, Germany.
C Corresponding author. Email: polani@mrdg.iisc.ernet.in
Reproduction, Fertility and Development 20(3) 440-449 https://doi.org/10.1071/RD07154
Submitted: 9 September 2007 Accepted: 20 December 2007 Published: 11 March 2008
Abstract
Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) is a pleiotropic IL-6 family cytokine and its maternal uterine expression is critical for mouse blastocyst implantation. In the golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus), although the blastocyst hatching phenomenon is quite interesting and LIF is shown to regulate hatching, information is not available on the embryonic and uterine expression of LIF and hormonal regulation of LIF expression during the peri-implantation period. The present investigation is aimed at studying embryonic and uterine expression of LIF during preimplantation hamster development. We observed embryonic expression of LIF mRNA and protein in the 8-cell, morula and blastocyst stages. In cycling females, uterine LIF mRNA expression was maximal during the oestrogen-dominant phase of the oestrous cycle, i.e. proestrous stage. Interestingly, during pregnancy, both LIF mRNA and protein were highly upregulated on Days 3.5 and 4 (‘window of implantation’), implying a role for this cytokine in blastocyst hatching and implantation. Cell type-specific localisation of LIF mRNA and protein was observed predominantly in luminal epithelium and uterine glands with faint staining being detected in the stroma. The hamster uterus encoded a ~4.2 kb LIF transcript whose coding region, when cloned and sequenced, showed a high degree of identity to the murine cDNA counterpart. These data demonstrate that: (1) hamster preimplantation embryos show LIF mRNA and protein expression; (2) uterine expression of LIF mRNA and protein was dependent on elevated levels of circulating oestrogen, and (3) there is a possible functional association of LIF with the peri-implantation development in the golden hamster.
Additional keyword: peri-implantation embryo development.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Dr Nicos Nicola, WEHI, Australia, for providing the LIF cDNA construct; Mr. B. Sukesh and Ms. M. Kirstein for technical help; Drs. S. Tonack, P. Pocar, S. Hombach-Klonisch and T. Klonisch for their scientific and technical advice. Funding supports from DST-DAAD (D0209632); ICMR-Advanced Centre, DST and UGC, New Delhi are gratefully acknowledged.
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