The presence of orexins and their receptors in gonads indicate that these hormones participate in the control of reproductive functions. The aim of the study was to compare the expression of the prepro-orexin (PPO) gene in porcine endometrium and myometrium and the intensity of OXA- and OXB-immunoreactivity in the following uterine structures: endometrial glandular and luminal epithelium and st...

Progesterone receptor (PR) variant mRNAs in human endometrium could encode proteins with the potential to alter progesterone action in states of normal and abnormal endometrial development. We have assessed the expression levels of mRNA for the wild-type PR and splice variants of PR mRNA lacking exon 4 (del-4 PR), exon 6 (del-6 PR), exons 4 and 6 (del-4&6 PR), and part of exon 4 (del-p4 PR) or ...

BACKGROUND A subgroup of women with Asherman's syndrome has adhesions of limited extent completely blocking the lower uterine cavity or upper cervix, whereas the upper endometrium remains normal. Haematometra are rarely found in these women. We tested the hypothesis that women with localized adhesions occluding the uterine outlet (but not affecting the upper uterine cavity) will have much thinn...

Previous studies indicated that calcitonin (CT), a peptide hormone involved in calcium (Ca(2+)) homeostasis, is transiently induced by steroid hormone progesterone (P) in the uterine epithelia of the rat and human within the window of implantation. Targeted disruption of uterine CT expression markedly impaired implantation in the rat. To gain insight into the molecular events underlying CT acti...

BACKGROUND Endometrium can adhere to autologous peritoneum. This study was undertaken to determine the effect of the menstrual cycle phase and the presence and stage of endometriosis on in-vitro adhesion of endometrium onto autologous peritoneum. METHODS This was performed in an academic medical research centre. Sixty-seven subfertile women with a visually normal pelvis (n = 18) and with biop...

One of the first steps in the pathogenesis of endometriosis is the attachment of the endometrium to the peritoneal lining. Since the peritoneum is extremely fragile and hard to obtain, amnion has been used as an in-vitro model to study adhesion. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy was applied to evaluate the adhesion of endometrial cells isolated in the proliferative and secretory pha...

Steroid hormones, e.g. progesterone and oestradiol, may be responsible for the production and expression of a variety of angiogenic growth factors present in endometrial tissue. The expression of platelet-derived endothelial cell growth factor (PD-ECGF) in neovascularization after regression of the microvessels in the endometrium was examined. PD-ECGF protein expression in the endometrium durin...

Membrane-type 1 matrix metalloproteinase (MT1-MMP) in endometrium and decidua may greatly affect attachment of the embryo to the epithelium, invasion of the trophoblast into the stroma, and extracellular matrix remodelling in the endometrium and decidua. We investigated the expression of this enzyme in normally cycling endometrium and in decidua associated with normal and tubal pregnancies at b...