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Mol. Hum. Reprod. Advance Access originally published online on June 13, 2006
Molecular Human Reproduction 2006 12(7):443-450; doi:10.1093/molehr/gal053
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
The online version of this article has been published under an open access model. Users are entitled to use, reproduce, disseminate, or display the open access version of this article for non-commercial purposes provided that: the original authorship is properly and fully attributed; the Journal and Oxford University Press are attributed as the original place of publication with the correct citation details given; if an article is subsequently reproduced or disseminated not in its entirety but only in part or as a derivative work this must be clearly indicated. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Calcitonin gene-related peptide stimulates human villous trophoblast cell differentiation in vitro

K.E. Green, C. Thota, G.D.V. Hankins, C. Yallampalli and Yuan-Lin Dong1

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA

1 To whom correspondence should be addressed at: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Texas Medical Branch, 301 University Boulevard, MRB 11.138, Galveston, TX 77555-1062, USA. E-mail: ydong{at}utmb.edu

Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) is a multifunctional peptide present in both maternal and fetal circulations in pregnancy. Its receptors have been identified on human trophoblast cells, but the role of CGRP in trophoblast differentiation remains unknown. This study was designed to determine the effect of CGRP on the differentiation of villous trophoblasts isolated from normal human term placentae. The morphological and functional differentiation of the trophoblast cells were assessed by desmosomal protein immunofluorescent staining and the quantification of hCG, estrogen and progesterone secretion. Results showed that (i) exposure of villous trophoblast cells to CGRP led to a dose-dependent increase in intracellular cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) accumulation; (ii) immunofluorescent staining with antidesmosomal antibody was identified at the boundaries between aggregated cytotrophoblast cells, and these stainings disappeared when cells fused to form syncytiotrophoblast cells; (iii) the formation of multinucleated syncytiums in primary cultured cytotrophoblasts was stimulated by CGRP as evidenced by the changes in antidesmosomal staining; (iv) CGRP increases trophoblast hCG secretion in a time- and dose-dependent manner, and this secretion was blocked by CGRP antagonist, CGRP8–37, and (v) both 17ß-estradiol (E2) and progesterone concentrations in the culture medium were increased by CGRP, and these increases were dose dependent. These observations suggest that CGRP may be involved in the morphological and functional differentiation of trophoblast cells, and these actions might be attributed to CGRP-induced intracellular cAMP accumulation.

Key words: CGRP/placenta/pregnancy/trophoblasts


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