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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 297/3/E676    most recent 91020.2008v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Bachelot, A. Articles by Binart, N. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Bachelot, A. Articles by Binart, N.

Prolactin independent rescue of mouse corpus luteum life span: identification of prolactin and luteinizing hormone target genes

¹Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Unité 845, Paris; ²Faculté de Médecine, Université Paris Descartes, Paris; ³Endocrinology and Reproductive Medicine, Pitié-Salpétrière Hospital, Paris; ⁴Unité Mixte de Recherche 6175, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Reproductive Physiology and Behavior, Nouzilly, France; and ⁵Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois

Submitted 19 December 2008 ; accepted in final form 15 June 2009

The corpus luteum (CL) plays a central role in the maintenance of pregnancy in rodents, mainly by secreting progesterone. Female mice lacking prolactin (PRL) receptor (R) are sterile due to a failure of embryo implantation, which is a consequence of decreased luteinizing hormone (LH) receptor expression in the CL and inadequate levels of progesterone. We attempted to treat PRLR^–/– females with human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and showed a de novo expression of LHR mRNA in the corpora lutea. Binding analysis confirmed that the LHR in hCG-treated PRLR^–/– animals was functional. This was accompanied with increased expression of steroidogenic enzymes involved in progesterone synthesis. Despite these effects, no embryo implantation was observed because of high expression of 20-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase. To better appreciate the molecular mechanisms underlying maintenance of the CL, a series of mRNA expression-profiling experiments was performed on isolated corpora lutea of PRLR^–/– and hCG-treated PRLR^–/– mice. This approach revealed several novel candidate genes with potentially pivotal roles in ovarian function, among them, p27, VE-cadherin, Pten, and sFRP-4, a member of the Wnt/frizzled family. This study showed the differential role of PRL and LH in CL function and identified new targets of these hormones in luteal cells.

prolactin receptor; luteinizing hormone receptor; corpus luteum