Uteroglobin induces the development and cellular proliferation of the mouse early embryo

Abstract

Two-cell mouse embryos cultured in vitro in the presence of either purified rabbit uteroglobin (UG) or recombinant human UG developed and proliferated faster than controls cultured in the absence of this protein. Both the percentage of embryos developing to the blastocyst stage and the number of cells per embryo were increased. Treatment with UG for 3 hr was enough to trigger this response. The effect of UG was blocked by genistein, an inhibitor of tyrosine protein kinases, suggesting the involvement of these kinases in the stimulation of the embryo by UG. To further support this suggestion, embryos were metabolically labeled in vitro with [ 32 P] and the phosphorylated proteins were immunoprecipitated with anti-phosphotyrosine. Analysis of the immunoprecipitates by SDS-PAGE showed that UG induced the phosphorylation of several proteins of M r between 200 and 37 kDa. This induction was observed after 1 hr of stimulation with UG and further increased after 3 hr of treatment. Since UG is synthesized and secreted in the uterus and the oviduct, these results suggest a physiological role of this protein in the correct development of the embryo in vivo.

The human oviduct transcriptome reveals an anti-inflammatory, anti-angiogenic, secretory and matrix-stable environment during embryo transit

“…It is a multifunctional protein with anti-inflammatory/immunomodulatory properties and it inhibits phospholipase A 2 activity and binds progesterone, retinols, polychlorinated biphenyls, phospholipids and prostaglandins (Mukherjee et al , 2007). In addition to its anti-inflammatory activities, uteroglobin displays anti-chemotactic and embryonic growth-stimulatory activities (Riffo et al , 2007). …”

Up‐Regulation of Insulin‐Like Growth Factor I and Uteroglobin in In Vivo‐Developed Parthenogenetic Embryos

“…UG is the main protein component of uterine secretion during implantation, and it has been suggested that it is involved in blastocyst formation, expansion and attachment (Beier 2000). It is also secreted during early pregnancy, stimulating the development and proliferation of the pre‐implantation embryo (Riffo et al. 2007; Mukherjee et al.…”

“…2011). Uteroglobin ( UG) is the main protein secreted by the uterus (Beier 2000) and has been shown to stimulate development and cell proliferation of pre‐implantation embryos (Riffo et al. 2007; Mukherjee et al.…”

Non‐coding RNAs: emerging regulatory factors in the derivation and differentiation of mammalian parthenogenetic embryonic stem cells

“…The expression of several growth factors were analyzed, and their results showed that they showed similar mRNA expression for octamer-binding transcription factor 4 (OCT-4) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), but robustly increased levels of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and uteroglobin (UG) in parthenote embryos (Lu et al, 2002). The up-regulation of IGF-I and UG in parthenote embryos suggested their potential role in the alternation of the parthenote embryo development and cell proliferation (Riffo et al, 2007). UG has been involved in blastocyst formation, expansion and attachment, and could stimulate the development and proliferation of the pre-implantation embryo (Piecewicz et al, 2012).…”