ROLE OF WNT/β-CATENIN AND NOTCH PATHWAYS IN RAT CORPUS LUTEUM DEVELOPMENT

ACCIALINI PAULA; BECHIS, ANDRÉS; IRUSTA GRISELDA; BAS, DIANA; PARBORELL, FERNANDA; ABRAMOVICH DALHIA; TESONE, MARTA

Congreso; LXII REUNIÓN ANUAL DE LA SOCIEDAD ARGENTINA DE INVESTIGACIÓN CLÍNICA (SAIC); 2017

Wnt/β-catenin and Notch are evolutionarily conserved pathways involved in the regulation of ovarian function. Previous results from our laboratory using XAV939 to inhibit the canonical Wnt pathway demonstrated that Wnt is implicated in ovulation and luteal function. We established that this pathway is involved in luteal progesterone production through the regulation of StAR levels. In addition, this pathway regulates the proliferation and survival of the Corpus Luteum (CL) cells and the luteal vascular development. The objectives of this study were: 1) to confirm our previous results by using another Wnt inhibitor that acts through a different mechanism and 2) to study the effect of hCG on Notch member expression. To this purpose prepubertal eCG-treated rats were injected with either Wnt inhibitor (XAV939 or ICG-001) or vehicle solution (DMSO, Control group) into the bursa of both ovaries the day of hCG administration. Ovaries were collected 48 hours later. CLs from one ovary were isolated by microdissection and used to measure mRNA, total protein or nuclear protein levels. The other ovary was fixed for histological analysis. The level of nuclear β-catenin, which is responsible for transcriptional regulation, decreased after XAV939 administration, as measured by Western blot (control: 1.7±0.04; XAV939: 1.4±0.05; [n=4]; P