RNASeq PROFILES RELATED TO ENDOMETRIAL HEALTH

In postpartum dairy cows, subclinical endometritis (SCE) is characterized by persistent endometrial inflammation, which exerts profound detrimental effects on subsequent reproductive performance. So far, transcriptomic studies related to this condition were either based on biopsy-derived whole endometrium tissue or endometrial swab/cytobrush samples, thus neglecting cell type-specific variations in gene expression. This study tested the hypothesis that different endometrial health statuses are associated with distinct transcription profiles of endometrial stromal, glandular and luminal epithelial cells. In conclusion, this study evidences that endometrial inflammation recovery or persistence is associated with gene expression patterns involved in immune function, tissue remodelling, and uterine receptivity in a cell type-specific manner. Identifying these signatures may prove instrumental to developing novel diagnostic and therapeutic targets, either to prevent persistence or speed recovery from endometrial inflammation, thus restoring the fertility of postpartum dairy cows. Overall design: At 44 days postpartum, endometrial biopsies were taken from dairy cows (n = 24) classified as healthy (H), recovered from SCE (R), and affected by persistent SCE (PE), according to endometrial cytology taken at 21 and 44 days postpartum. Stromal, glandular and luminal epithelial cells were isolated from the whole tissue biopsy by laser capture microdissection, and the cell-specific transcription profiles were determined by RNAseq. Differential gene expression was analyzed with DESeq2.