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Vertebrate reproductive science and technology
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Sex steroids influence the plasma membrane transformation in the uterus of the fat-tailed dunnart (Sminthopsis crassicaudata, Marsupialia)

Jessica S. Dudley https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2274-0240 A C , Christopher R. Murphy A , Michael B. Thompson B , Laura A. Lindsay A and Bronwyn M. McAllan A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A School of Medical Sciences and Bosch Institute, Anderson Stuart Building (F13), University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.

B School of Life and Environmental Science, Heydon-Laurence Building (A08), University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.

C Corresponding author. Email: jdud1448@uni.sydney.edu.au

Reproduction, Fertility and Development 31(4) 633-644 https://doi.org/10.1071/RD18202
Submitted: 4 June 2018  Accepted: 3 October 2018   Published: 19 November 2018

Abstract

The uterine epithelium undergoes remodelling to become receptive to blastocyst implantation during pregnancy in a process known as the plasma membrane transformation. There are commonalities in ultrastructural changes to the epithelium, which, in eutherian, pregnancies are controlled by maternal hormones, progesterone and oestrogens. The aim of this study was to determine the effects that sex steroids have on the uterine epithelium in the fat-tailed dunnart Sminthopsis crassicaudata, the first such study in a marsupial. Females were exposed to exogenous hormones while they were reproductively quiescent, thus not producing physiological concentrations of ovarian hormones. We found that changes to the protein E-cadherin, which forms part of the adherens junction, are controlled by progesterone and that changes to the desmoglein-2 protein, which forms part of desmosomes, are controlled by 17β-oestradiol. Exposure to a combination of progesterone and 17β-oestradiol causes changes to the microvilli on the apical surface and to the ultrastructure of the uterine epithelium. There is a decrease in lateral adhesion when the uterus is exposed to progesterone and 17β-oestradiol that mimics the hormone environment of uterine receptivity. We conclude that uterine receptivity and the plasma membrane transformation in marsupial and eutherian pregnancies are under the same endocrine control and may be an ancestral feature of therian mammals.

Additional keywords: adherens junction, desmosomes, marsupial, 17β-oestradiol, progesterone, uterine receptivity.


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