Effects of estrogen on the fibrosis process of intrauterine adhesions and the expression of forkhead box F2 / 解放军医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the effect of estrogen on the fibrosis process of intrauterine adhesions and the expression of forkhead box F2 (FoxF2).Methods Primary human endometrial stromal cells (HESCs) were obtained by separation with 0.2％ collagenase Ⅰ digestion-mesh filtration-differential adherence,and identified by immunocytochemistry.HESCs affected with 10ng/ml transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1) for 48 hours.HESCs in model group were affected with 0,10-6,10-8,10-10 and 10-12mol/L estrogen,the expressions of smooth muscle actin alpha (α-SMA),Collagen I (COL Ⅰ) and FoxF2 were detected by quantitative PCR (qPCR) and Western blotting.Results HESCs with high purity and good activity were obtained by using 0.2％ collagenase Ⅰ digestion-mesh filtration-differential adherence separation method.Immunocytochemistry showed positive vimentin and negative cytokeratin 18 in HESCs.The results of qPCR and Western blotting showed that the mRNA and protein expression levels of α-SMA,COL Ⅰ and FoxF2 were higher in model group than in control group (P＜0.05),the model was built successfully.qPCR revealed that the mRNA expression levels ofα-SMA,COL Ⅰ and FoxF2 were significantly lower in 10-6,10-8 and 10-10mol/L estrogen groups than in model group (P＞0.05 in 10-10mol/L estrogen group,P＜0.05 in other groups),while in 10-12mol/L estradiol group,the expression levels of FoxF2 mRNA significantly decreased (P＜0.05),and of α-SMA and COL Ⅰ mRNA increased,but no significant difference were found (P＞0.05).Compared with the model group,the protein expression levels of α-SMA,COL Ⅰ and FoxF2 in 10-6,10-8 and 10 10mol/L estrogen groups decreased,but no significant difference was found (P＜0.05),while in 10-12mol/L estradiol group,the expression levels ofα-SMA protein increased (P＞0.05),and of COL Ⅰ and FoxF2 proteins decreased (P＜0.05).Conclusions The expression of FoxF2 in intrauterine adhesions is increased.Estrogen can reverse the fibrosis process of intrauterine adhesions in a certain range and inhibit the expression of FoxF2.