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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 79/1/100    most recent biolreprod.107.065474v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by González-Fernández, R. Articles by Sánchez-Criado, J. E. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by González-Fernández, R. Articles by Sánchez-Criado, J. E. Agricola Articles by González-Fernández, R. Articles by Sánchez-Criado, J. E.

Changes in the Proteome of Functional and Regressing Corpus Luteum During Pregnancy and Lactation in the Rat¹

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology,³ and Department of Cell Biology, Physiology and Immunology,⁴ University of Córdoba, 14071 Córdoba, Spain

ABSTRACT

The corpus luteum (CL) is an exquisitely regulated transitory endocrine gland necessary for the onset and maintenance of pregnancy in mammals. Most of the data on the mechanisms of CL differentiation at the molecular level come from genomic studies, but direct protein data are scarce. Here we have undertaken a differential expression proteomic approach to identify, in an unbiased way, those proteins whose levels change significantly in the rat CL as it evolves from functionality during pregnancy to regression after parturition. Moreover, we have compared the regressing CL with the newly formed functional CL that coexist during lactation under the same endocrine environment. We have defined a "proteomic signature" of CL functionality, which is constituted by a set of 24 proteins with a few differences between pregnancy and lactation. Most of these markers are new and are involved in microtubule assembly, retinoic acid transport, and Raf kinase signaling cascade; 10 are enzymes that define a ketogenic metabolic landscape, demonstrating, for the first time, the prevalence of de novo cholesterol synthesis in luteal cells. The "proteomic signature of regression," on the other hand, is composed of nine proteins, one of which is 20alpha-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase and two, ferritin and gamma-actin, are new. The discovery of unpredictable new actors in the differentiation process of CL reported here will contribute to new hypotheses that explain the complex female reproductive function at the protein level. It will also open new doors to research on each identified protein by relating them to cellular differentiation.

20-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase, acetyl-CoA, actin, annexin A5, biomarkers, cathepsin D, cholesterol synthesis, corpus luteum function, ferritin, ketogenesis, lactation, peroxiredoxin, phosphatidylethanolamine binding protein, pregnancy, progesterone, progesterone secretion, rat reproductive cycle, retinoic acid binding protein, steroidogenesis

¹Supported by Spanish Ministry of Science and Education grants BFI2002-0755 to J.A.B. and BFU2005-01443 to J.E.S.-C. and by grant CVI-216 to J.A.B. from the Regional Andalusian Government. R.G.F. was recipient of a doctoral FPU fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education.

Correspondence: ²José Antonio Bárcena, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Campus de Rabanales, Ed. "Severo Ochoa," Pl. 1, University of Córdoba, 14071-Córdoba, Spain. FAX: 34 957 218592; e-mail: bb1barua{at}uco.es