Gene expression profiling of mouse uterine stromal cells isolated on day 5 of pregnancy

Our study revealed that hypoxia inducible factor 2 alpha, Hif2 alpha, is a downstream target of estrogen signaling in mouse uterine stroma at the time of implantation. Further, conditional deletion of Hif2 alpha in mouse uterus leads to infertility due to impaired epithelial remodeling at the time of implantation. To identify the downstream targets of Hif2 alpha in the uterus, we performed gene expression profiling of uterine stromal cells isolated from Hif2 alpha-intact and -null mice on day 5 of pregnancy, overlapping the window of implantation. The microarray results revealed altered expression of mRNAs corresponding to factors involved in protein trafficking in uterine stroma of Hif2 alpha-ablated mice. These factors mediate crosstalk between uterine storma and epithelial cells to promote epithelial remodeling and implantation. Thus, Hif2 alpha regulates embryo implantation by controlled trafficking of secretory granules during early pregnancy. Mouse uterine stromal cells were isolated from control and conditional knockout mice on day 5 of pregnancy. The stromal cells from 3 animals/genotype were pooled and total RNA was isolated and then hybridized to high density affymetrix microarrays according to the Affymetrix protocol (Mouse Genome 430A 2.0 Array)