Abstract
Although pregnancy is initiated and maintained through highly complex mechanisms, it is essential to understand the events that occur before and during early pregnancy to understand a healthy implantation process. The Notch signal, thought to be involved in this process, is frequently the subject of research with its different aspects. To better understand the role of Notch signaling in the peri-implantation period of the mouse uterus, we investigated the state of expression and localization of Notch 3, Notch 4, Rbp-J, Hes1, Hes7, Hey2, HeyL, and Fbw7 in the uterus and implantation sites in early pregnancy. Balb/C mice were divided into groups D1, D4, D5, D6, and D8. For D5 and D6 groups, implantation sites were identified by intravenous injection of Chicago blue. IHC, WB, and QRT-PCR methods were used. Notch 3 was very strong positive on the 4th day of pregnancy. Notch 4 was highly expressed on days 4, 5, 6, and 8 of pregnancy when P4 levels were high. Hes 1 level was at the lowest on the 4th day of pregnancy. Hes 7 protein expression gradually increased from D1 to D8 in the uteri and implantation sites. Hey 2 expression was at the highest level on the 1st and 4th days. Hey L expression was on the apical of the glands. Fbxw7 that expression was high on the 1st and 4th days of pregnancy. Notch signaling may play an essential role in regulating endometrial receptivity. In addition, our Hes7 results are new to the literature.
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All the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article and its supplementary materials.
Abbreviations
- Dll:
-
Delta-like ligand
- Fbxw 7:
-
F-Box And WD Repeat Domain Containing 7
- Hes 1:
-
Hes Family BHLH Transcription Factor 1
- Hes 7:
-
Hes Family BHLH Transcription Factor 7
- Hey 2:
-
Hes Related Family BHLH Transcription Factor With YRPW Motif 2
- Hey L:
-
Hes Related Family BHLH Transcription Factor With YRPW Motif 3
- NECD:
-
Notch extracellular domain
- NICD:
-
Notch intracellular domain
- RBPJ:
-
Recombination signal binding protein for immunoglobulin kappa J region
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Acknowledgements
We thank TUBITAK most sincerely. The authors also thank Dr. Derya Mutlu for his excellent knowledge and help with quantitative real-time PCR experiments.
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This work was supported by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) (No: 213S032).
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Acar, N., Soylu, H., Avci, S. et al. Expressions of Notch signalling pathway members during early pregnancy in mice. J Mol Histol 54, 297–312 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10735-023-10132-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10735-023-10132-x