Exposure to low-oxygen environment cause implantation failure and changes in transcriptome of uterus and ovary

Hypoxia is a condition in which tissues of the body do not receive sufficient amounts of oxygen supply. The current study aimed to clarify the impact of a forced low-oxygen environment on the early pregnancy by exposing mice to low-oxygen conditions for 72 hours after fertilization. The treatment resulted in a complete failure of blastocyst implantation accompanied by vascular hypermeability in the uterus. The transcriptome analysis of uterus and ovary revealed remarkable alterations in gene expression between the control normoxic and hypoxic treatment groups. These alterations were encompassed a number of genes categorized to the immune responses and oxidative demethylation process. Overall design: To explore the effect of forced low oxygen on the implantation window. Pregnant mice exposed to low oxogen 72 hours after fertilization the then were sacrificied at E3.5, Uterine and ovarian samples were collected. Total RNA were wxtracted for each treatment group (hypoxia and normoxia), three samples were pooled, and RNA sequencing libraries were constructed. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified based on a Log2-fold change (FC) threshold of = 2.