Mol. Hum. Reprod. Advance Access published online on February 16, 2004
Molecular Human Reproduction, doi:10.1093/molehr/gah034
© 2004 by Oxford University Press
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1 Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Teramo, Piazza A. Moro 45, Teramo 64100, Italy
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: Maccarrone{at}vet.unite.it.
Anandamide (N-arachidonoylethanolamine, AEA) is a major endocannabinoid, known to impair mouse pregnancy and embryo development and to induce apoptosis in blastocysts. Here we show that mouse blastocysts rapidly (within 30 min of culture) release a soluble compound, that increases by
Accepted December 2, 2003
Article
Mouse blastocysts release a lipid which activates anandamide hydrolase in intact uterus
2 Departments of Public Health and Cell Biology, University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’, Rome 00133, Italy
3 Experimental Medicine and Biochemical Sciences, University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’, Rome 00133, Italy
Abstract 
2.5-fold the activity of AEA hydrolase (fatty acid amide hydrolase, FAAH) present in the mouse uterus, without affecting FAAH gene expression at the translational level. This ‘FAAH activator’ was produced by both trophoblast and inner cell mass cells, and its initial biochemical characterization showed that it was fully neutralized by adding lipase to the blastocyst-conditioned medium (BCM), and was potentiated by adding trypsin to BCM. Other proteases, phospholipases A2, C or D, DNAse I or RNAse A were ineffective. BCM did not affect the AEA-synthesizing phospholipase D, the AEA-binding cannabinoid receptors, or the selective AEA membrane transporter in mouse uterus. The FAAH activator was absent in uterine fluid from pregnant mice and could not be identified with any factor known to be released by blastocysts. In fact, platelet-activating factor inhibited non-competitively FAAH in mouse uterus extracts, but not in intact uterine horns, whereas leukotriene B4 or prostaglandins E2 and F2
had no effect. Overall, it can be suggested that blastocysts may protect themselves against the noxious effects of uterine endocannabinoids by locally releasing a lipid able to cross the cell membranes and to activate FAAH. The precise molecular identity of this activator, the first ever reported for FAAH, remains to be elucidated.
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