ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of recombinant FSH (rFSH) and urinary FSH (uFSH) on the gene expressions of human endometrial stromal cells in vitro. METHODS: Endometrial tissue was obtained from a pre-menopausal women undergoing hysterectomy. Primary endometrial stromal cells were isolated and in vitro cultured with FBS-free DMEM/F-12 containing 0, 10, 100, and 1,000 mIU/ml of rFSH and uFSH for 48 hours, respectively. Total RNA was extracted from the cultured cells and subjected to real time RT-PCR for the quantitative analysis of progesterone receptor (PR), estrogen receptor alpha/beta (ER-alpha/beta), cyclooxygenase 2 (Cox-2), leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), homeobox A10-1 and -2 (HoxA10-1/-2). RESULTS: Both hormone treatments slightly increased (< 3 folds) the expressions of PR, ER-beta and HoxA10-1/-2 gene. However, ER-alpha expression was increased up to five folds by treatments of both FSH for 48 hours. The LIF expression by the 10 mIU/ml of uFSH for 12 hours was significantly higher than that of rFSH (p<0.01). After 24 hours treatment of two kinds of hormones, the expression patterns of LIF were similar. The 100 and 1,000 mIU/ml of rFSH induced significantly higher amount of Cox-2 expression than those of uFSH, respectively (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: This study represents no adversely effect of exogeneous gonadotropins, rFSH and uFSH, on the expression of implantation related genes. We suggest that rFSH is applicable for the assisted reproductive technology without any concern on the endometrial receptivity.