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MenSCs Transplantation Improve the Viability of Injured Endometrial Cells Through Activating PI3K/Akt Pathway

  • Reproductive Biology: Original Article
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Abstract

Endometrial injury is one of the leading causes of female infertility and is caused by intrauterine surgery, endometrial infection, repeated abortion, or genital tuberculosis. Currently, there is little effective treatment to restore the fertility of patients with severe intrauterine adhesions and thin endometrium. Recent studies have confirmed the promising therapeutic effects of mesenchymal stem cell transplantation on various diseases with definite tissue injury. The aim of this study is to investigate the improvements of menstrual blood-derived endometrial stem cells (MenSCs) transplantation on functional restoration in the endometrium of mouse model. Therefore, ethanol-induced endometrial injury mouse models were randomly divided into two groups: the PBS-treated group, and the MenSCs-treated group. As expected, the endometrial thickness and gland number in the endometrium of MenSCs-treated mice were significantly improved compared to those of PBS-treated mice (P < 0.05), and fibrosis levels were significantly reduced (P < 0.05). Subsequent results revealed that MenSCs treatment significantly promoted angiogenesis in the injured endometrium. Simultaneously, MenSCs enhance the proliferation and antiapoptotic capacity of endometrial cells, which is likely contributed by activating the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. Further tests also confirmed the chemotaxis of GFP-labeled MenSCs towards the injured uterus. Consequently, MenSCs treatment significantly improved the pregnant mice and the number of embryos in pregnant mice. This study confirmed the superior improvements of MenSCs transplantation on the injured endometrium and uncovered the potential therapeutic mechanism, which provides a promising alternative for patients with serious endometrial injury.

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Data Availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article and its supplementary information files.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge all the authors for their contribution to the study.

Funding

We would like to acknowledge the Henan Province Foundation of China (212102310611 and 22A320043) and Xinxiang Foundation of China (GG2021029) for the financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Stem Cell and Biotherapy Technology Research Center, College of Life Science and Technology, Xinxiang Medical University, NO 601, East of JinSui Road, Xinxiang, 453003, Henan Province, China

    Shenghui Zhang, Ruiyun Zhang, Ying Pan, Yanli Liu & Juntang Lin

  2. Department of Biomedical Sciences, Advanced Medical and Dental Institute (IPPT), Universiti Sains Malaysia, Gelugor, Penang, Malaysia

    Shenghui Zhang

  3. The First Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, 453000, China

    Xiyao Yin

  4. The Third Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical University, Hualan Road, XinxiangHenan Province, 453100, China

    Yuyu Lu & Ying Pan

  5. College of Biomedical Engineering, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, 453003, China

    Hongbin Cheng & Juntang Lin

  6. The Third Medical Center of Chinese, PLA General Hospital, Beijing, 100039, China

    Hongbin Cheng

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  1. Shenghui Zhang
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Contributions

J. L. and Y. L. conceived and designed the experiments. S. Z. and Y. P. analyzed the data and prepared the manuscript. R. Z. and Y. L. performed the experiments. H. C. provided assistance with cell culture and data analysis, and discussed the results and commented on the manuscript. S. Z. wrote the manuscript and prepared the figures; Y. L. revised the manuscript, and gave approval to the final version as the corresponding author. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Ying Pan or Yanli Liu.

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The present study was approved by the ethical committee of Xinxiang Medical University, Henan, China.

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Zhang, S., Zhang, R., Yin, X. et al. MenSCs Transplantation Improve the Viability of Injured Endometrial Cells Through Activating PI3K/Akt Pathway. Reprod. Sci. 30, 3325–3338 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43032-023-01282-0

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