Journal
BIOLOGY OF REPRODUCTION
Volume 105, Issue 1, Pages 148-163Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1093/biolre/ioab034
Keywords
corpus luteum; pregnancy; interferon-tau; bovine; transcriptome
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Funding
- BARD-US Israel Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund grant [IS-4799-15]
- Wisconsin Experiment Station as Hatch Project [WIS01240]
- USDA Agriculture Research Service (Dairy Forage Research Center, Madison, WI) [5090-31000-026-00-D]
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The study found significant alterations in expression of interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs) during early pregnancy, with immune/interferon signaling pathways being enriched. Most ISGs decreased during the second month of pregnancy, but some remained elevated even after cessation of IFNT secretion. Additionally, the study highlighted the importance of lack of PGF exposure in corpus luteum maintenance during early pregnancy, while the roles of diverse ISGs and other pathways activated during early pregnancy remain undefined.
Understanding luteal maintenance during early pregnancy is of substantial biological and practical importance. Characterizing effects of early pregnancy, however, has historically been confounded by use of controls with potential exposure to early Prostaglandin F2-alpha (PGF) pulses or differences in Corpus Luteum (CL) age. To avoid this, the present study utilized bihourly blood sampling to ensure control CL (n = 6) were of a similar age to CL from pregnant animals (n = 5), yet without exposure to PGF pulses. Additionally, CL from second month of pregnancy (n = 4) were analyzed to track fate of altered genes after cessation of embryonic interferon tau (IFNT) secretion. The major alteration in gene expression in first month of pregnancy occurred in interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs), with immune/interferon signaling pathways enriched in three independent over-representation analyses. Most ISGs decreased during second month of pregnancy, though, surprisingly, some ISGs remained elevated in the second month even after cessation of IFNT secretion. Investigation of luteolytic genes found few altered transcripts, in contrast to previous reports, likely due to removal of controls exposed to PGF pulses. An exception to this trend was decreased expression of transcription factor NR4A1. Beyond luteolytic genes and ISGs, over representation analyses highlighted the prevalence of altered genes within the extracellular matrix and regulation of Insulin-like growth factor (IGF) availability, confirming results of other studies independent of luteolytic genes. These results support the idea that CL maintenance in early pregnancy is related to lack of PGF exposure, although potential roles for CL expression of diverse ISGs and other pathways activated during early pregnancy remain undefined.
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