Murine model of decidulization and menstruation. Mus musculus

A murine model that mimic the decidualization and regression observed in human was used to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying the dynamic processes in endometrium. Ovariectomized mice were treated sequentially with steroid hormones and then, to induce decidualization, oil was injected into the uterine lumen. A process similar to menstruation was induced by hormone-withdrawal. The uterine tissues were collected at 4 time-points after the induction of decidualization. Keywords: decidualization, menstruation, progesterone-withdrawal, time-course Overall design: The uterine tissues were collected at 36 (T1), 48 (T2), 60 (T3) and 84 hours (T4) after the last progesterone injection. There are 4 experimental animals for each time-point, and the RNAs collected from animals within the same time-point group were pooled together for Affymetrix microarray analysis using U74Av2 Chips.