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Ecto-nucleotidases distribution in human cyclic and postmenopausic endometrium

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Abstract

Extracellular ATP and its hydrolysis product, adenosine, acting through specific receptors collectively named purinergic receptors, regulate female fertility by influencing the endometrial fluid microenvironment. There are four major groups of ecto-nucleotidases that control the levels of extracellular ATP and adenosine and thus their availability at purinergic receptors: ecto-nucleoside triphosphate diphosphohydrolases (E-NTPDases), ecto-nucleotide pyrophosphatase/phospho-diesterases (E-NPPs), ecto-5′-nucleotidase (5′NT), and alkaline phosphatases (APs). The aim of the present work is to characterize the expression and distribution of ecto-nucleotidases in human endometrium along the menstrual cycle and after menopause, to evaluate their potential utility as fertility markers. We examined proliferative, secretory and atrophic endometria from women without endometrial pathology undergoing hysterectomy. We show that the ecto-nucleotidases are mainly present at endometrial epithelia, both luminal and glandular, and that their expression fluctuates along the cycle and also changes after menopause. An important result was identifying NPP3 as a new biological marker of tubal metaplasia. Our results emphasize the relevance of the study of purinergic signaling in human fertility.

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Abbreviations

AP:

Alkaline phosphatase

α,β-meADP:

alpha, beta-Methylene adenosine 5′-diphosphate

NPP:

Nucleotide pyrophosphatase/phosphodiesterase

5′-NT:

Ecto-5′-nucleotidase

NTPDase:

Nucleoside triphosphate diphosphohydrolase

PLAP:

Placental AP

PPi:

Pyrophosphate

SMA:

Smooth muscle actin

TNAP:

Tissue nonspecific AP

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Tumour Bank of Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge (IDIBELL's Biobank) and the Centres Científics i Tecnològics, Universitat de Barcelona, Campus de Bellvitge, Barcelona, Spain, for their technical assistance. We thank the Xarxa de Bancs de Tumors de Catalunya (XBTC) sponsored by Pla Director d'Oncologia de Catalunya for their contribution. We also thank Gloria Ganaway for her help with English editing. We are indebted to Oscar Frigola Morencia for the illustration of the endometrium. This study was supported by Instituto de Salud Carlos III grant FIS-PI10/00305 to M. Martín-Satué.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departament de Patologia i Terapèutica Experimental, Facultat de Medicina, Campus de Bellvitge, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Elisabet Aliagas, August Vidal, Benjamín Torrejón-Escribano, Inmaculada Gómez de Aranda, Enric Condom & Mireia Martín-Satué

  2. Institut d’Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge (IDIBELL), Barcelona, Spain

    Elisabet Aliagas, August Vidal, Jordi Ponce, Enric Condom & Mireia Martín-Satué

  3. Servei d’Anatomia Patològica, Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge, Barcelona, Spain

    August Vidal, Maria del Rosario Taco & Enric Condom

  4. Centres Científics i Tecnològics, Universitat de Barcelona, Campus de Bellvitge, Barcelona, Spain

    Benjamín Torrejón-Escribano

  5. Servei de Ginecologia, Hospital de Bellvitge, Barcelona, Spain

    Jordi Ponce

  6. Centre de recherche en Rhumatologie et Immunologie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Québec and Département de microbiologie–infectiologie et d’immunologie, Faculté de Médecine, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada

    Jean Sévigny

  7. Facultat de Medicina-UB Bellvitge, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Pavelló de Govern, 4ª planta, lab. 4145, C/ Feixa Llarga s/n, 08907, Barcelona, Spain

    Mireia Martín-Satué

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  1. Elisabet Aliagas
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  2. August Vidal
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  6. Inmaculada Gómez de Aranda
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  7. Jean Sévigny
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  8. Enric Condom
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  9. Mireia Martín-Satué
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Correspondence to Mireia Martín-Satué.

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Aliagas, E., Vidal, A., Torrejón-Escribano, B. et al. Ecto-nucleotidases distribution in human cyclic and postmenopausic endometrium. Purinergic Signalling 9, 227–237 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11302-012-9345-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11302-012-9345-0

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