110 EXPRESSION AND CLONING OF OESTRADIOL RECEPTOR α AND PROGESTERONE RECEPTORS AND INTERFERONE STIMULATED GENE 15 IN ENDOMETRIUM AND CORPUS LUTEUM OF PREGNANT CAMEL

Abstract

Despite their economic and cultural importance, dromedary camel is considered as a slow breeding animal, because of the higher incidence of early embryonic death. The present study was designed to investigate: 1) Expression and cloning of progesterone receptors (PR) and oestradiol receptor α (ERα) in CL and endometrium of pregnant camel; 2) Detection of interferon stimulated gene 15 (ISG15) in corpus luteum (CL) and endometrium of pregnant dromedary camels. For PR and ERα, RNA was extracted from CL and endometrium of dromedary camels during early (1 to 3 months), mid (4 to 9 months), and late stage (10 to 13 months) of pregnancy. Messenger RNA expression of PR and ERα was performed using RT-qPCR. Detection of ISG15 was performed using immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis. In CL, both PR and ERα ± showed the same pattern with significantly high (P < 0.01) expression during early stage compared to mid or late stages of pregnancy. The lowest (P < 0.01) expression was detected during the late stage of pregnancy compared with the mid stage. There was no difference in mRNA expression for PR and ERα in endometrium of during the different stages of pregnancy in dromedary camels. ISG15 conjugated protein showed no expression in CL or endometrium of pregnant dromedary camels either by immunohistochemistry or Western blot. In conclusion, PR and ERα potentially play a role in regulating luteal function in CL during pregnancy in dromedary camels, further work is necessary to study the mechanism of pregnancy recognition in dromedary camels.