Corticotropin-releasing hormone, its binding protein and receptors in human cervical tissue at preterm and term labor in
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Corticotropin-releasing hormone, its binding protein and receptors in human cervical tissue at preterm and term labor in comparison to non-pregnant state Aurelija Klimaviciute*1, Jacopo Calciolari2, Emma Bertucci2, Susanne AbelinTornblöm1, Ylva Stjernholm-Vladic1, Birgitta Byström1, Felice Petraglia2 and Gunvor Ekman-Ordeberg1 Address: 1Dept. of Woman and Child Health, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden and 2Dept. of Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Reproductive Medicine, University of Siena, Siena, Italy Email: Aurelija Klimaviciute* - [email protected]; Jacopo Calciolari - [email protected]; Emma Bertucci - [email protected]; Susanne Abelin-Tornblöm - [email protected]; Ylva Stjernholm-Vladic - [email protected]; Birgitta Byström - [email protected]; Felice Petraglia - [email protected]; Gunvor Ekman-Ordeberg - [email protected] * Corresponding author
Published: 31 May 2006 Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology 2006, 4:29
doi:10.1186/1477-7827-4-29
Received: 22 February 2006 Accepted: 31 May 2006
This article is available from: http://www.rbej.com/content/4/1/29 © 2006 Klimaviciute et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract Background: Preterm birth is still the leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality. The level of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) is known to be significantly elevated in the maternal plasma at preterm birth. Although, CRH, CRH-binding protein (CRH-BP), CRH-receptor 1 (CRH-R1) and CRH-R2 have been identified both at mRNA and protein level in human placenta, deciduas, fetal membranes, endometrium and myometrium, no corresponding information is yet available on cervix. Thus, the aim of this study was to compare the levels of the mRNA species coding for CRH, CRH-BP, CRH-R1 and CRH-R2 in human cervical tissue and myometrium at preterm and term labor and not in labor as well as in the non-pregnant state, and to localize the corresponding proteins employing immunohistochemical analysis. Methods: Cervical, isthmic and fundal (from non-pregnant subjects only) biopsies were taken from 67 women. Subjects were divided in 5 groups: preterm labor (14), preterm not in labor (7), term labor (18), term not in labor (21) and non-pregnant (7). Real-time RT-PCR was employed for quantification of mRNA levels and the corresponding proteins were localized by immunohistochemical analysis. Results: The levels of CRH-BP, CRH-R1 and CRH-R2 mRNA in the pregnant tissues were lower than those in non-pregnant subjects. No significant differences were observed between preterm and term groups. CRH-BP and CRH-R2 mRNA and the corresponding proteins were present at lower levels in the laboring cervix than in the non-laboring cervix, irrespective of ge
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