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Mol. Hum. Reprod. Advance Access originally published online on May 9, 2007
Molecular Human Reproduction 2007 13(7):483-489; doi:10.1093/molehr/gam029
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© The Author 2007. 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

Facilitation of decidualization by locally produced ghrelin in the human endometrium

N. Tawadros1,2, L.A. Salamonsen1, E. Dimitriadis1 and C. Chen1,2,3

1 Prince Henry's Institute of Medical Research, Monash University, 246 Clayton Road, Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia 2 Department of Physiology, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia

3 Correspondence address. Tel: +61 3 9594 4371; Fax: +61 3 9594 6125; E-mail: chen.chen{at}princehenrys.org

Ghrelin acting via the growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHS-R) stimulates GH secretion from pituitary glands. Both ligand and receptor are present in the pituitary, hypothalamus and many peripheral tissues including the uterus. This study demonstrates the cyclical expression of GHS-R and ghrelin in human endometrium. mRNA and protein for ghrelin and GHS-R were examined using RT–PCR and immunohistochemistry. Both ghrelin and GHS-R mRNA levels were highest in the secretory phase, with lower levels in the mid-proliferative phase and even lower expression in the menstrual phase. Immunoreactive ghrelin and GHS-R were confined predominantly to glandular epithelial and stromal cells with the greatest intensity of staining in secretory phase samples, consistent with the RT–PCR data. Additionally, we examined ghrelins effect on the decidualization of human endometrial stromal cells (HESCs) combined with sex steroid and cAMP treatments using prolactin (PRL) and insulin-like growth factor binding protein-1 (IGFBP-1) production as markers of decidualization. Ghrelin administered in combination with sex steroids to HESC, resulted in an increase in PRL and IGFBP-1 production above that obtained with cAMP, or sex steroids alone (P < 0.001) whereas ghrelin in combination with cAMP inhibits the action of cAMP. These findings have potential clinical applications for the regulation of fertility.

Key words: decidualization/endometrium/ghrelin/GHS-R/prolactin

Submitted on January 31, 2007; resubmitted on March 19, 2007; accepted on March 23, 2007.


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