Expression and localization of nodal in bovine oviduct and uterus during different functional stages of oestrus cycle and pregnancy

MARTIN E. ARGAÑARAZ; SILVANA APICHELA; REBECCA KENGOTT; MARGARETHE VERMEHEREN; DANIELA RODLER; GUSTAVO ADOLFO PALMA; DORA C. MICELI; FRED SINOWATZ

HISTOCHEMISTRY AND CELL BIOLOGY.

SPRINGER

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2013 p. 89 - 97

0948-6143

Members of TGF-b superfamily play a major role in the endometrial changes involved in the establishment and maintenance of pregnancy. Their deregulated expression and action could lead to absolute or partial failure of embryo implantation. Nonetheless, the precise function and mechanism of many of these cytokines remain unclear. Nodal, a transforming growth factor beta (TGF-b) superfamily member, was characterized in the human and rodent uterus and implicated in the tissue remodeling events during menstruation and embryo implantation. In order to study its possible role in the cattle reproductive process, we have analyzed Nodal expression pattern and localization in the oviduct and uterine horn during the oestrus cycle and early pregnancy (day 20). Nodal was detected both in oviduct and uterus during either the oestrus cycle or pregnancy; however, it shows a differential expression profile in the uterine horn at dioestrus and pregnancy, decreasing 1.5 and 1.4 folds in comparison with oestrus. Nodal immunostaining intensity was observed in stromal and in epithelial cells of the surface and the glandular epithelium. The staining pattern correlates with the RT-qPCR expression profile. This work is the first to evidence the presence of Nodal in the bovine reproductive