Progesterone's role in deep infiltrating endometriosis: Progesterone receptor and estrogen metabolism enzymes expression and physiological changes in primary endometrial stromal cell culture

Development of a cell culture system from bovine and bubaline endometrial cells recovered by a minimally invasive technique using a cytobrush

Ruminant endometrial cell culture is a common model system used to study uterine receptivity and related signaling in the maternal endometrium and pregnancy. The present study aimed to develop a minimally invasive technique by employing a cytobrush for collecting endometrial cell samples retrieved from cattle and buffalo and to establish and characterize the cells. The study was divided into two experiments. Experiment I evaluated the tissue invasiveness associated with different brush cytology rotations for 3, 5, 7, and 9 rounds compared with biopsy samples. In total, 30 areas of endometrial tissue samples from the uteri of six fresh, healthy, non-pregnant bovines from a slaughterhouse were examined histologically to determine tissue invasiveness based on the perpetual endometrial layer. The seven rounds of cytobrush rotation provided optimal results with detached epithelial cell lining and sloughed-off basement membrane while maintaining intact endometrial stroma, suggesting its suitability for subsequent cell culture. In Experiment II, primary endometrial cell cultures were established employing the 7-round brush cytology method from ten healthy, Holstein Friesian and swamp buffalo cows (n = 5, each). Endometrial cells were subcultured up to the third passage for further validation. Physical characterization utilized immunocytochemistry with pan-cytokeratin and vimentin co-staining. The cultured cells were functionally assessed by quantifying prostaglandin F2 alpha (PGF2α) secretion following 0 and 100 nM oxytocin challenge. Our findings showed that cytobrush sampling yielded sufficient seeding cells for culture. The proportions of endometrial epithelial cells relative to the stromal cells at passage 3 were 89.98 ± 7.21 % and 85.18 ± 2.66 % for cows and buffaloes, respectively. The secretion of PGF2α at 24 h increased significantly in bovine endometrial cell culture with 100 nM oxytocin (931.37 ± 292.69 pg/mL) compared with 0 nM oxytocin (194.06 ± 43.95 pg/mL; p = 0.026), as well as in bubaline endometrial cell culture, at 100 nM oxytocin (5.17 ± 1.54 pg/mL) compared 0 nM oxytocin (1.92 ± 0.76 pg/mL; p > 0.05). In conclusion, minimally tissue-invasive in vivo brush cytology sampling methods are effective for establishing a primary endometrial cell culture system in cows and buffaloes, providing a valuable model for studying reproductive physiology.

Emerging hallmarks of endometriosis metabolism: A promising target for the treatment of endometriosis

Endometriosis, characterized by ectopic endometrium growth in the extrauterine environment, is one of the most notable diseases of the female reproductive system. Worldwide, endometriosis affects nearly 10 % of women in their reproductive years and causes a significant decline in quality of life. Despite extensive investigations of endometriosis over the past years, the mechanisms of endometriosis pathogenesis remain unclear. In recent years, metabolic factors have increasingly been considered factors in endometriosis. There is compelling evidence regarding the progress of endometriosis in the context of severe metabolic dysfunction. Hence, the curative strategies and ongoing attempts to conquer endometriosis might start with metabolic pathways. This review focuses on metabolic mechanisms and summarizes current research progress. These findings provide valuable information for the non-intrusive diagnosis of the disease and may contribute to the understanding of the pathogenesis of endometriosis.

T-Cadherin, E-Cadherin, PR-A, and ER-α Levels in Deep Infiltrating Endometriosis

The goal of this study was to compare the T-cadherin, E-cadherin, progesterone receptor (PR), and estrogen receptor (ER) staining levels of deep infiltrating endometriosis (DIE) tissue, ovarian endometriomas and normal endometrial tissues in the same individuals. The tissue sections of both DIE nodule(s) and endometrioma(s) of 15 cases were examined. As a control group, normal endometrial tissue sections of 23 cases were examined. T-cadherin, E-cadherin, ER-α, and PR-A staining levels of DIE, endometrioma tissues, and endometrial tissues were compared immunohistochemically. H -score was calculated to compare the expression of T-cadherin, E-cadherin, ER-α, and PR-A in immunohistochemical staining based on the percentage of cells stained at each intensity level. T-cadherin, E-cadherin, ER, and PR H -score were lowest in DIE tissue and highest in endometrial tissue ( P <0.0001, <0.0001, <0.0001, and <0.0001, respectively). In correlation analysis, a positive correlation was found between T-cadherin, E-cadherin, PR, and ER H -score ( P <0.0001 for each). T-cadherin, E-cadherin, ER, and PR H -score were lowest in DIE tissue and highest in endometrium tissue. We think that examination of DIE tissue and endometrioma tissue from the same individual excludes the possibility of an effect due to different genetic and environmental factors from different individuals. With the help of this exclusion we showed that DIE and endometrioma have different biological properties.

Dissolved Oxygen-Sensing Chip Integrating an Open Container Connected with a Position-Raised Channel for Estimation of Cellular Mitochondrial Activity

The measurement of oxygen consumption of adherent cells is a profoundly important issue for estimating the bioenergetic health and metabolism activity of cells. The study describes the construction of a microfluidic chip consisting of an open container connected with a position-raised channel and dissolved oxygen (DO)-sensing gold ultramicroelectrodes for quantifying the oxygen consumption rate (OCR) of adherent cells. The microfluidic chip design can reduce the action of shear force on the adherent cells during medium replacement. The residual concentration of analytes in the open container was only 4.4% after solution replacement via the position-raised channel. The DO reduction current measured by ultramicroelectrodes averaged in the range of 40-60 s presented high reproducibility with a 1.1% relative standard deviation suitable for OCR calculation. After short-term (90 min) cultivation, the microfluidic chip can monitor the time-dependent change in the OCR of 3T3-L1 cells for several hours by repeatedly replacing the culture medium or with the stimulation of different mitochondrial inhibitors. The presented microfluidic cell-based chip has great promise for drug screening and chemosensitivity testing by measuring OCR to evaluate the mitochondrial function of adherent cells.

The deep infiltrating endometriosis tissue has lower T-cadherin, E-cadherin, progesterone receptor and oestrogen receptor than endometrioma tissue

OBJECTIVE

To compare the T-cadherin, E-cadherin, PR and ER staining levels of deep infiltrating endometriosis (DIE) tissue, ovarian endometriomas and normal endometrial tissues.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

DIE tissue of 24 cases, endometrioma of 30 cases and normal endometrial tissues of 30 cases were examined. T-cadherin, E-cadherin, ER-α and PR-α staining levels of DIE, endometrioma tissues and endometrial tissues were compared immunohistochemically. H-score was calculated to compare the expression of T-cadherin, E-cadherin, ER-α, PR-α in IHC staining based on the percentage of cells stained at each intensity level.

RESULTS

T-cadherin, E-cadherin, ER and PR H-score were found lowest in DIE tissue and the highest in endometrial tissue (p < 0.0001, <0.0001, <0.0001 and < 0.0001, respectively). In correlation analysis, a positive correlation was found between T-cadherin, E-cadherin, PR and ER H-score (p < 0.0001 for each). No correlation was found between age, body mass index (BMI), visual analog scale (VAS) score, CA125, endometrioma size and the severity of dysmenorrhea, dyspareunia and dystonia (p > 0.05).

CONCLUSION

T-cadherin, E-cadherin, ER and PR H-score were found lowest in DIE tissue, the highest in endometrium tissue. The finding of lower expression of PR-α in endometriotic nodule in our study may be related to decrease in progesterone effect which could not inhibit the decrease in the expression of T-cadherin and E-cadherin, thus the invasiveness of DIE tissue. These findings suggest that DIE tissue and ovarian endometrioma tissues have a different biology.