Expression profiling of primate CL following PGF2alpha treatment

Corpus luteum (CL) is an ephemeral gland whose main function is to secrete progesterone required for the establishment and maintenance of pregnancy. In non-fertile cycles, primate CL has a finite life span of 14-16 days, following which it undergoes regression. Although it has been suggested long time back that PGF2alpha of intra-ovarian or intra-luteal origin acts as a physiological luteolysin in primates, the mechanisms by which PGF2alpha mediates its luteolytic actions are poorly understood. Earlier, we standardized an induced luteolysis model, where 3 injections of PGF2alpha to female bonnet monkeys on day 10 of luteal phase led to luteolysis. To delineate the mechanism of this PGF2alpha-induced luteolysis, we tried to study the global changes in gene expression following PGF2alpha treatment using Affymetrix microarray analysis of PGF2alpha and VEH treated CL and results suggested that PGF2alpha exerts its luteolytic effects by altering gene expression. Keywords: CL, PGF2alpha, VEH, gene expression For the purpose of microarray analysis, PGF2alpha (3 injections) at a dose of 59 µg/kg BW and PBS as VEH (control) was administered i.m. to female monkeys on day 10 of luteal phase (n=3). At 24 h following either PGF2alpha or VEH administration, CL was collected and immediately cut into 4-5 pieces and snap frozen in liquid nitrogen.

黄体（Corpus luteum, CL）是一类短暂存在的内分泌腺体，其核心生理功能为分泌孕酮，以支持妊娠的建立与维持。在未受孕的生殖周期中，灵长类黄体的寿命限定为14~16天，随后会发生生理性退化。尽管早在多年前就有研究提出，卵巢内或黄体自身来源的前列腺素F2α（PGF2α）可作为灵长类的生理性溶黄体因子，但PGF2α介导溶黄体作用的具体分子机制仍不甚明晰。
此前我们已建立并标准化了一种诱导性黄体溶解模型：在黄体期第10天向雌性帽猴注射3次PGF2α，即可诱导黄体溶解。为阐明该PGF2α诱导的黄体溶解机制，我们通过对PGF2α处理组与赋形剂对照（VEH）组的黄体组织开展Affymetrix基因芯片分析，探究了PGF2α处理后全基因组基因表达的全局变化；结果表明，PGF2α可通过调控基因表达发挥其溶黄体效应。
关键词：黄体（CL）、前列腺素F2α（PGF2α）、赋形剂对照（VEH）、基因表达
为开展本次基因芯片分析，我们于黄体期第10天对雌性帽猴（每组n=3）肌肉注射剂量为59 µg/kg体重的PGF2α，以磷酸盐缓冲液（PBS）作为赋形剂对照（VEH）。在PGF2α或VEH注射24小时后，采集黄体组织并立即切割为4~5块，置于液氮中快速冻存。