Prostanoids are a group of bioactive lipids working as local mediators and include D, E, F and I types of prostaglandins (PGs) and thromboxanes. Prostacyclin (PGI2) acts on platelets and blood vessels to inhibit platelet aggregation and to cause vasodilatation, and is thought to be important for vascular homeostasis. Aspirin-like drugs, including indomethacin, which inhibit prostanoid biosynthesis, suppress fever, inflammatory swelling and pain, and interfere with female reproduction, suggesting that prostanoids are involved in these processes, although it is not clear which prostanoid is the endogenous mediator of a particular process. Prostanoids act on seven-transmembrane-domain receptors which are selective for each type. Here we disrupt the gene for the prostacyclin receptor in mice by using homologous recombination. The receptor-deficient mice are viable, reproductive and normotensive. However, their susceptibility to thrombosis is increased, and their inflammatory and pain responses are reduced to the levels observed in indomethacin-treated wild-type mice. Our results establish that prostacyclin is an antithrombotic agent in vivo and provide evidence for its role as a mediator of inflammation and pain.

Fever, a hallmark of disease, is elicited by exogenous pyrogens, that is, cellular components, such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS), of infectious organisms, as well as by non-infectious inflammatory insults. Both stimulate the production of cytokines, such as interleukin (IL)-1beta, that act on the brain as endogenous pyrogens. Fever can be suppressed by aspirin-like anti-inflammatory drugs. As these drugs share the ability to inhibit prostaglandin biosynthesis, it is thought that a prostaglandin is important in fever generation. Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) may be a neural mediator of fever, but this has been much debated. PGE2 acts by interacting with four subtypes of PGE receptor, the EP1, EP2, EP3 and EP4 receptors. Here we generate mice lacking each of these receptors by homologous recombination. Only mice lacking the EP3 receptor fail to show a febrile response to PGE2 and to either IL-1beta or LPS. Our results establish that PGE2 mediates fever generation in response to both exogenous and endogenous pyrogens by acting at the EP3 receptor.

Histidine decarboxylase (HDC) synthesizes histamine from histidine in mammals. To evaluate the role of histamine, we generated HDC-deficient mice using a gene targeting method. The mice showed a histamine deficiency and lacked histaminesynthesizing activity from histidine. These HDC-deficient mice are viable and fertile but exhibit a decrease in the numbers of mast cells while the remaining mast cells show an altered morphology and reduced granular content. The amounts of mast cell granular proteases were tremendously reduced. The HDCdeficient mice provide a unique and promising model for studying the role of histamine in a broad range of normal and disease processes. ß

Mice lacking the gene encoding the receptor for prostaglandin F2alpha (FP) developed normally but were unable to deliver normal fetuses at term. Although these FP-deficient mice showed no abnormality in the estrous cycle, ovulation, fertilization, or implantation, they did not respond to exogenous oxytocin because of the lack of induction of oxytocin receptor (a proposed triggering event in parturition), and they did not show the normal decline of serum progesterone concentrations that precedes parturition. Ovariectomy at day 19 of pregnancy restored induction of the oxytocin receptor and permitted successful delivery in the FP-deficient mice. These results indicate that parturition is initiated when prostaglandin F2alpha interacts with FP in ovarian luteal cells of the pregnant mice to induce luteolysis.

Peptide hormones, neurotransmitters, and autacoids activate a family of seven-transmembrane-domain receptors. Each of these receptors specifically couples to one of several G proteins, Gs, Gi, G(o) and Gp, to activate a specific second messenger system. Cell surface receptors for prostanoids have been characterized pharmacologically and the complementary DNAs for thromboxane A2 receptor and the EP3 subtype of the prostaglandin (PG)E receptor reveal that they belong to the seven-transmembrane-domain receptor family. The EP3 receptor mediates the diverse physiological actions of PGE2 (ref. 3). Although most of them occur through coupling of the EP3 receptor to Gi and inhibition of adenylyl cyclase, the EP3-mediated contraction of uterine muscle can only occur by activation of another second messenger pathway. In chromaffin cells, two different second messenger pathways are activated by PGE2 binding to an apparently single EP3 receptor class. Here we show that at least four isoforms of the EP3 receptor, which differ only at their C-terminal tails and are produced by alternative splicing, couple to different G proteins to activate different second messenger systems.

Female mice lacking the gene encoding the prostaglandin (PG) E 2 receptor subtype EP 2 (EP 2 ؊͞؊ ) become pregnant and deliver their pups at term, but with a much reduced litter size. A decrease in ovulation number and a much reduced fertilization rate were observed in EP 2 ؊͞؊ females without difference of the uterus to support implantation of wild-type embryos. Treatment with gonadotropins induced EP 2 mRNA expression in the cumulus cells of ovarian follicles of wild-type mice. The immature cumuli oophori from wildtype mice expanded in vitro in response to both folliclestimulating hormone and PGE 2 , but the response to PGE 2 was absent in those from EP 2 ؊͞؊ mice. Cumulus expansion proceeded normally in preovulatory follicles but became abortive in a number of ovulated complexes in EP 2 ؊͞؊ mice, indicating that EP 2 is involved in cumulus expansion in the oviduct in vivo. No difference in the fertilization rate between wild-type and EP 2 ؊͞؊ mice was found in in vitro studies using cumulusfree oocytes. These results indicate that PGE 2 cooperates with gonadotropin to complete cumulus expansion for successful fertilization.Ovulation and fertilization are key processes in mammalian female reproduction, which is highly regulated by pituitary gonadotropins, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), and luteinizing hormone. These hormones induce a number of preovulatory processes, including follicular development, oocyte maturation, cumulus expansion, and rupture of antral follicles (1). The ovulated eggs move to the oviducts, and timely interaction between an egg and a sperm then leads to successful fertilization (2). Undoubtedly, these processes are initiated by the gonadotropins, but how gonadotropins regulate these processes remains unclear. It is known that some gonadotropin actions are mediated by other mediators. Prostanoids, the cyclooxygenase (COX)-metabolites of arachidonate, likely mediate the ovulatory actions of gonadotropins (3) because aspirin-like drugs that inhibit COX have been reported to inhibit spontaneous and gonadotropin-primed ovulation in many species (4). Prostaglandin E 2 (PGE 2 ), a dominant prostanoid in the ovary, can reverse the inhibitory effect of aspirin-like drugs, when administered simultaneously. These results suggest that some of the steps of ovulation are mediated by this prostanoid (5). Indeed, luteinizing hormone surge leads to high expression of COX-2 in granulosa cells (6, 7), and a large amount of PGE 2 is produced and released into the antral fluid (8). Recently, the importance of prostanoids in early pregnancy has been definitely shown in mice deficient in COX-2. The COX-2 Ϫ͞Ϫ animals showed a reduction in ovulation number and severe failure in fertilization as well as defects in the ability of the uterus to receive implants and to undergo decidualization (9). The result that not only ovulation but fertilization was also severely affected indicates that prostanoids play a role in one of a series of preovulatory processes that are required for both ovulation and fert...

No abstract

We used mice deficient in each of the eight types and subtypes of prostanoid receptors and examined the roles of prostanoids in dextran sodium sulfate-induced (DSS-induced) colitis. Among the prostanoid receptor-deficient mice, only EP4-deficient mice and not mice deficient in either DP, EP1, EP2, EP3, FP, IP, or TP developed severe colitis with 3% DSS treatment, which induced only marginal colitis in wild-type mice. This phenotype was mimicked in wild-type mice by administration of an EP4-selective antagonist (AE3-208). The EP4 deficiency impaired mucosal barrier function and induced epithelial loss, crypt damage, and aggregation of neutrophils and lymphocytes in the colon. Conversely, administration of an EP4-selective agonist (AE1-734) to wild-type mice ameliorated severe colitis normally induced with 7% DSS, while that of AE3-208 suppressed recovery from colitis and induced significant proliferation of CD4 + T cells. In vitro AE3-208 enhanced and AE1-734 suppressed the proliferation and Th1 cytokine production of lamina propria mononuclear cells from the colon. DNA microarray analysis revealed elevated expression of genes associated with immune response and reduced expression of genes with mucosal repair and remodeling in the colon of EP4-deficient mice. We conclude that EP4 maintains intestinal homeostasis by keeping mucosal integrity and downregulating immune response.