Neonatal genistein and pregnancy day 2 oviduct gene expression. Mus musculus

Neonatal genistein treatment causes complete infertility in adult mice. Part of their infertility can be attributed to a loss of 50% of the preimplantation embryos during transit through the oviduct between days 2 and 3 of pregnancy. Comparison of the gene expression signatures of oviducts collected on pregnancy day 2 revealed significant alterations in gene expression, particularly in genes involved in development and the inflammatory response. These findings were verified by real time PCR and in some cases at the protein level by immunoblotting or immunohistochemistry. Overall design: Mice were treated with either corn oil (control) or genistein 50 mg/kg/day in corn oil for 5 days from postnatal day 1 (day of birth) through postnatal day 5. At 6-8 weeks of age, both groups of mice were superovulated and mated. Vaginal plug-positive mice were euthanized on day 2 of pregnancy (48 hr after hCG administration) and oviducts were collected. Both oviducts from one mouse were combined to form one biological replicate. Four biological replicates from each group (control and neonatal genistein-treated) were compared.