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1 Department of Cellular Physiological Chemistry, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 1-545 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8519, Japan
2 Department of Comprehensive Reproductive Medicine, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 1-545 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8519, Japan
3 Department of Health Chemistry, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Showa University, 1-58 Hatanodai, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 142-8555, Japan
(Requests for offprints should be addressed to I Morita; Email: morita.cell{at}tmd.ac.jp)
| Abstract |
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| Introduction |
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Among these three enzymes, mPGES-1, which was originally designated as membrane-bound glutathione S-transferase1-like 1 (MGST1-L1), is the most important isozyme in infectious response (Jakobbsson et al. 1999). This isozyme is thought to be coordinately induced with COX-2 on the perinuclear membrane and is functionally coupled with COX-2 in marked preference to COX-1 (Murakami et al. 2000). mPGES-1 expression is induced by pro-inflammatory stimuli in various tissues and cells, and is down-regulated by dexamethasone, accompanied by change in COX-2 expression and PGE2 production (Murakami et al. 2000). COX-2 and mPGES-1, therefore, are thought to be essential components for PGE2 bio-synthesis under pathological conditions. mPGES-2 was originally extracted from bovine heart (Watanabe et al. 1999, Tanikawa et al. 2002). This isozyme was synthesized as a Golgi membrane-associated protein and by spontaneous cleavage of the N-terminal hydrophobic domain, and led to the formation of a truncated protein that was distributed in the cytosol with a trend to be enriched in the perinuclear region. mPGES-2 promoted PGE2 production via both COX-1 and COX-2 in the immediate and delayed responses with modest preferences (Murakami et al. 2003). cPGES, which was identified as the heat shock protein 90 (HSP90)-associated protein p23, is thought to be constitutive and to be linked with COX-1 (Tanioka et al. 2000).
In previous studies, it has been reported that female mPGES-1 knockout mice showed no functional defects in reproductive behavior (Uematsu et al. 2002, Trebino et al. 2003). Here, to understand the role of mPGES-1 in preterm delivery due to the infectious response, we investigated whether or not the duration of labor in the LPS-induced preterm delivery model was affected, and also investigated the changes in expression patterns of various PGESs in preterm delivery.
| Materials and Methods |
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C57BL6 mice (wild-type) were obtained from the Sankyo laboratory. The mPGES-1 knockout mice (C57BL6x 129/SvJ background) were as described previously (Uematsu et al. 2002, Kamei et al. 2004). As previously demonstrated, normal mPGES-1 protein was not produced in these knockout animals (Uematsu et al. 2002). Female mice (1012 weeks old) were mated overnight to obtain pregnant females. Mating was confirmed by the presence of seminal plug or sperm. Seminal plug day was designated as day 0 and represented the beginning of the gestational period. The duration of pregnancy in both wild-type and mPGES-1 knockout mice was 19 days. There were no differences between each group statistically. All experiments were performed with the approval of the Tokyo Medical and Dental University.
Agents
LPS and Escherichia coli 055:B were purchased from Sigma. Rabbit anti-mPGES-1 polyclonal antibodies and rabbit anti-cPGES antibodies were purchased from Cayman Chemicals (Ann Arbor, MI, USA). Rabbit anti-mPGES-2 antibodies were produced in our laboratory. The antibody against mPGES-2 was not cross-reacted with mPGES-1 and cPGES. Mouse anti-
tublin polyclonal antibodies were purchased from Sigma. Anti-rabbit IgG antibodies and anti-mouse IgG antibodies, and enzyme immunoassay kits for PGE2 were purchased from Amersham.
Preterm delivery model with LPS treatment
LPS or saline were injected i.p. at 5 mg/kg (150170 µg per mouse) in the mice on day 15. The duration of labor after LPS administration was counted every 0.5 h.
RNA extraction
Total RNA was extracted from tissue specimens after homogenization in Trizol reagent (Invitrogen) according to the manufacturers instruction. The quantity and quality of the RNA was verified by spectrophotometry.
Reverse transcription (RT)-PCR
One microgram of total RNA was used as a template for cDNA synthesis. The cDNA was prepared using random primers and River Tra Ace (TOYOBO, Osaka, Japan). PCR primers were designed and synthesized on the basis of reported mouse cDNA sequences for COX-1, COX-2, mPGES-1, mPGES-2, cPGES and ß-actin (Table 1
). Each PCR reaction was performed in a 25 µl mixture containing Ex Taq, dNTP (TAKARA, Tokyo, Japan) and primers. Cycling conditions were as follows: denaturation for 40 s at 94 ° C, annealing for 30 s at 62 ° C and extension for 45 s at 72 ° C for COX-1 (28 cycles), COX-2 (32 cycles) and ß-actin (22 cycles); denaturation for 40 s at 94° C, annealing for 30 s at 58 ° C, extension for 45 s at 72 ° C for mPGES-1 (30 cycles) and mPGES-2 (30 cycles); and denaturation for 40 s at 94 ° C, annealing for 30 s at 50° C, extension for 45 s at 72 ° C for cPGES (25 cycles).
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Real-time quantitative PCR
Quantification of relative mRNA abundance for mPGES-1 and mPGES-2 was performed by real-time PCR amplification in a Light Cycler (Roche) instrument using hybridization probe methods. Each hybridization probe was designed and synthesized on the basis of mouse sequences reported by Japanese gene research laboratories. The primers and probe pairs are shown in Table 2
. A 20 µl PCR reaction was used and included quantitative PCR master mix (Qiagen), primers, probes and reversed transcribed cDNA. For quantification, standard curves were described using serial dilutions of the appropriate plasmid. Each PCR product was confirmed by size determination using agarose gel electrophoresis. Data obtained from the Light Cycler were normalized against ß-actin.
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Tissues was harvested and frozen in liquid nitrogen and kept at 80 ° C until processed. Tissues were homogenized in 0.25% sucrose, 5 mM EDTA, 3% Triton x 100 and protease inhibitor cocktail (Sigma). The homogenates were centrifuged at 10 000 g for 10 min. A portion of supernatants was used to prepare the microsomal fraction by centrifugation at 56 000 g for 60 min. The supernatants were used for cytosolic fractions. The pellets were solubilized in 250 mM sucrose, 5 mM EDTA, 3% Triton x 100 and protease inhibitor cocktail. Protein context was measured using a protein assay kit (BioRad) using bovine albumin as standard. Fractions were kept at 20 ° C until further analysis.
SDS-PAGE and immunoblotting
Twenty microgram of microsomal protein extracts were subjected to electrophoresis on 15% SDS-PAGE gel and transferred to PVDF membranes. Membranes were blocked in TBS and 0.1% Tween20 containing 5% dry milk (TBS-T) and then incubated with mPGES-1 (x 1000), mPGES-2 (x 5000), cPGES (x 1000) and
-tublin (x 5000).
After incubation with primary antibody, the membrane was washed in TBS-T four times for 15 min each and then exposed to horseradish peroxidase-conjugated anti-mouse or anti-rabbit IgG secondary antibody (x 5000) at 4 °C for 2 h. Detections were performed using ECL plus western blotting detection reagents (Amersham). Signal strength was digitized and quantified using RAS1000 plus (Fuji Film, Tokyo, Japan).
Statistics
Data are expressed as means ± S.D. and were compared using the MannWhitney U-test. A P value of less than 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.
| Results |
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The duration of labor in LPS-treated wild-type mice was 10.95 ± 0.59 h (mean ± S.D.), and that in LPS-treated mPGES-1 knockout mice was 11.60 ± 0.93 h (mean ± S.D.). There was no significant difference between mPGES-1 knockout mice and wild-type mice (Fig. 1
).
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It was observed by RT-PCR that in the myometrium, placenta and fetal membrane in the wild-type mice, COX-2 mRNA production increased at 6 h after LPS treatment, but COX-1 and cPGES-1 mRNA were not influenced by LPS treatment. mPGES-1 mRNA expression was elevated in the myometrium and placenta, while mPGES-2 mRNA expression in these tissues was not affected by LPS treatment (Fig. 2a
).
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mPGES-1 and mPGES-2 protein levels in the myometrium, placenta and fetal membrane were detected by western blotting, and were normalized by
-tublin. In wild-type mice, in the myometrium mPGES-1 protein level as well as mRNA expression increased at 6 h after LPS treatment (Fig. 4a
); levels in the placenta tended to increase, but not this was not significant. In contrast, mPGES-2 protein did not increase after LPS treatment in the myometrium, placenta and fetal membrane of wild-type mice (Fig. 4b
).
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RT-PCR showed that mRNA expression of COX-2 and mPGES-2 in the myometrium of mPGES-1 knockout mice increased at 6 h after LPS treatment, but COX-1 and cPGES-1 mRNA were not influenced by LPS treatment (Fig. 2b
). The upregulation of mPGES-2 mRNA in the myometrium, but not in placenta and fetal membrane, at 6 h after LPS treatment was confirmed by quantitative real-time PCR (Fig. 5
). The difference in expression of mPGES-2 mRNA and proteins in the myometrium between wild-type and mPGES-1 knockout mice was more clearly observed at labor after LPS treatment (Fig. 6
).
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| Discussion |
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was not necessary for preterm labor and that increases in COX-2 at the time of preterm birth might underlie PGE2 change. Among PGE synthases, mPGES-1 is induced by pro-inflammatory stimuli in various tissues and cells, and is down-regulated by dexamethasone, indicating that COX-2 and mPGES-1 are essential for PGE2 biosynthesis under pathological conditions. These reports led us to the hypothesis that mPGES-1 is involved in preterm labor. Therefore, we investigated whether the duration of labor after LPS treatment was elongated in mPGES-1 knockout mice. However, unexpectedly there was no significant difference in the duration of labor between mPGES-1 knockout mice and wild-type mice. In previous investigations, the normal reproductive systems in mPGES-1 knockout mice also showed no abnormality (Uematsu et al. 2002, Trebino et al. 2003). In contrast, COX-2 knockout mice showed female reproductive abnormalities with defects in ovulation, fertilization, implantation and decidualization (Lim et al. 1997), and PGE2 receptor, EP2 knockout mice showed a defect in ovulation (Kennedy et al. 1999, Tilley et al. 1999). To examine the contribution of other PGESs in LPS-induced preterm delivery, the changes in PGES expression pattern were observed in wild-type mice. However, only the expression of mPGES-1 increased in the myometrium and fetal membrane after LPS treatment, and the expression of mPGES-2 and cPGES were not changed after LPS treatment. In contrast to the wild-type mice, elevated mPGES-2 mRNA in the myometrium afterLPS treatment was observed in mPGES-1 knockout mice. This indicates that mPGES-2 may compensate functionally for the loss of mPGES-1. This compensation has been reported in COX isozymes: interleukin-1ß could induce PGE2 synthesis in lung fibroblasts derived from COX-1 knockout mice as well as COX-2 knockout mice (Kirtikara et al. 1998). It has been reported that mPGES-2 expression was not increased appreciably during tissue inflammation or damage (Murakami et al. 2003). As shown in this paper, however, mPGES-2 expression increased following LPS treatment under conditions where mPGES-1 was reduced. The present data demonstrated that mPGES-1 maybe involved in LPS-induced preterm labor, but inhibition of mPGES-1 alone may not prevent preterm delivery, because mPGES-2 might compensate for the role of mPGES-1.
In a recent study, a COX-2-specific inhibitor, as well as indomethacin, induced premature constriction of the fetal ductus arteriosus (Loftin et al. 2002). Therefore, the inhibition of mPGES-1 may be a benefit for preterm delivery, but up to now the specific inhibitors of mPGES-1 have not been developed. In this paper, therefore, we used mPGES-1 knockout mice and investigated whether the duration of labor after LPS treatment was elongated. However, mPGES-2 compensated functionally for the loss of mPGES-1, and we failed to show the beneficial effects of mPGES-1 inhibition for preterm labor. Thus, further investigation using mPGES-1 and mPGES-2 double knockout mice is warranted to disclose the role of PGESs in preterm delivery.
| Acknowledgements |
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| Funding |
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The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that would prejudice the impartiality of this scientific work.
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Received 29 August 2005
Accepted 1 September 2005
Made available online as an Accepted Preprint 13 September 2005
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