Abstract
For the development of uterine receptivity, many morphological and molecular changes occur in the apical surface of luminal uterine epithelial cells (UECs) including an increase in vesicular activity. Vesicular movements for exocytosis and endocytosis are dependent on microtubules; however, changes in microtubules in UECs during early pregnancy have received little attention. β-tubulin, one of the main component of microtubules, is distributed throughout the cytoplasm of UECs on day 1 (non-receptive) of pregnancy in the rat. On day 5.5, β-tubulin is concentrated above the nuclei and by day 6 (receptive), β-tubulin is concentrated in a band-like fashion above the nucleus. Western blot analysis of isolated UECs found two bands (50 and 34 kDa) for β-tubulin in UECs during early pregnancy. The intensity of the 34 kDa band was significantly higher on day 6 compared to day 1. The increase in the 34 kDa band may be due to higher proteolytic activity associated with microtubule polymerisation during the receptive state. Transmission electron microscopy showed fragmented microtubules at the time of receptivity in UECs. This is the first study to show that microtubules are reorganised during uterine receptivity. This re-organisation likely facilitates vesicular movement and promotes the reorganisation of the apical plasma membrane for uterine receptivity.
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Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the support and facilities of the Bosch Institute Advanced Microscopy Facility, The University of Sydney and the assistance provided by Dr. Louise Cole. The authors also acknowledge the support and facilities provided by the Bosch Institute Molecular Biology Facility and the scientific and technical assistance of the Australian Microscopy & Microanalysis Research Facility at the Australian Centre for Microscopy & Microanalysis, The University of Sydney. Financial support was provided by the Australian Research Council, The Ann Macintosh Foundation of the Discipline of Anatomy and Histology and the Murphy Laboratory.
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S.N.K. designed the study, performed all experiments, analysed data and took the lead in writing the manuscript. All authors provided critical feedback and helped shape the research, analysis and manuscript.
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Kalam, S.N., Dowland, S., Lindsay, L. et al. Microtubules are reorganised and fragmented for uterine receptivity. Cell Tissue Res 374, 667–677 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00441-018-2887-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00441-018-2887-x