Cellular localization and developmental regulation of 11 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11 beta-HSD1) gene expression in the ovine placenta.

This study was designed to examine the cellular localization and developmental regulation of 11 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11 beta-HSD) type 1 gene expression in the ovine placenta. Placental tissues were collected at discrete times between days 59 and 143 of pregnancy (term = 145 days). Levels of 11 beta-HSD1 mRNA were determined by Norther blot analysis. The level of both dehydrogenase and reductase activities of 11 beta-HSD1 was assessed by a radiometric conversion assay using cortisol and cortisone as physiological substrates. The cellular localization of 11 beta-HSD1 protein was determined by standard immunohistochemical technique using a polyclonal antibody specific for the ovine protein. High levels of 11 beta-HSD1 mRNA were detected in the placenta by day 59, and there was a trend towards a decrease between days 98-103 and 125-128 (P = 0.06). The level of placental 11 beta-HSD1 mRNA remained unchanged thereafter. Levels of both 11 beta-HSD1 dehydrogenase and reductase activities followed a similar pattern except that in both cases there was a significant decrease between 98-103 and 125-128 (P < 0.05). Moreover, under the present assay conditions, the dehydrogenase activity was always predominant, suggesting that the net effect of placental 11 beta-HSD1 activity would lead to glucocorticoid inactivation. Thus, the decreased 11 beta-HSD1 activity in the placenta at days 125-128 was consistent with, and may help to explain, the apparent increase in the placental transfer of cortisol from mother to fetus during that time. Throughout pregnancy, intense 11 beta-HSD1 immunoreactivity was detected in fetal trophoblastic cells, maternal stromal cells and blood vessels. In contrast, maternal syncytium was immunonegative before day 125, but became immunopositive thereafter. The observed predominant direction of 11 beta-HSD1 activity in vitro and its pattern of localization in the ovine placenta are consistent with the hypothesis that placental 11 beta-HSD protects the fetus from adverse effects of maternal glucocorticoids by inactivating glucocorticoids locally.

Differential expression of 11 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 1 and 2 in the developing ovine fetal liver and kidney.

In adult mammals, liver and kidney are the two major sites of biosynthesis for 11 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11 beta-HSD) 1 and 2 respectively. In the present study, the expression of these two isozymes in the developing ovine fetal liver and kidney was characterized. Livers and kidneys were obtained from fetal sheep at days 85, 100-120 and 140-143 of gestation (term = 145 days). Tissue levels of 11 beta-HSD2 mRNA were assessed by Northern blot analysis. 11 beta-HSD dehydrogenase and reductase activities in tissue homogenates were determined by a radiometric conversion assay using cortisol and cortisone as physiological substrates respectively. The unidirectional 11 beta-HSD2 dehydrogenase activity was identified by its distinct cofactor preference (NAD), and by its unique ability to metabolize dexamethasone (Dex). In the liver, 11 beta-HSD1 dehydrogenase and reductase activities were present by day 85, and their levels did not change between days 85 and 100-120 but increased more than twofold at days 140-143. This was consistent with changes we reported previously in the fetal hepatic 11 beta-HSD1 mRNA. 11 beta-HSD1 reductase activity was always higher than the dehydrogenase activity. 11 beta-HSD2 mRNA and activity were undetectable in the fetal liver at all three ages. By contrast, 11 beta-HSD2 mRNA was present in the fetal kidney by day 85, and its abundance increased progressively thereafter. There was a parallel increase in the renal 11 beta-HSD2 activity. Dex was also converted to 11-dehydro-Dex by the fetal kidney. In keeping with the absence of the full-length 11 beta-HSD1 mRNA, 11 beta-HSD1 activity was undetectable in the kidney. These results indicate that (1) 11 beta-HSD1 and 2 genes are differentially expressed and regulated in the fetal liver and kidney during development, (2) since the hepatic 11 beta-HSD1 reductase activity is always higher than the dehydrogenase activity, the fetal liver may be a potential extra-adrenal source of cortisol, and (3) 11 beta-HSD2 in the kidney may play a very important role in protecting the fetus from elevated levels of bioactive glucocorticoids.

Preferential increase in prostaglandin endoperoxide H synthase compared with lipoxygenase activity in sheep placenta and amnion at term pregnancy and after intrafetal glucocorticoid administration.

Prostaglandins (PGs) have been implicated as stimulants to myometrial contractility at parturition in many species. To determine whether the increased production of PGs at parturition reflects a general increase in the metabolism of arachidonic acid or a specific increase in PG endoperoxide H synthase (PGHS) compared with lipoxygenase activities, and to determine intrauterine sites of these activities, we examined the metabolism of [3H]arachidonic acid by homogenates of placenta, amnion and chorion from sheep at days 78-80, 100-105, 135-140 of pregnancy and at term (day 145). Tissues were also obtained from fetuses at day 125; four of these were infused for 84 h with cortisol and four were used as saline-treated controls. The endogenous arachidonic acid content at the start of incubation was measured by capillary gas chromatography. Radioactive metabolites were separated and quantified by reverse-phase high-pressure liquid chromatography. At each gestational age arachidonic acid was converted to PGs, leukotrienes (LTs) and hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acids (HETEs). Conversion to PGs was greater in amnion than in chorion or placenta between days 78 and 140. The formation of PGs rose in placenta at term to a mean value twice that of amnion and ten times that of chorion. In amnion, the ratio of PG:LT rose significantly at term relative to 100-140 days of gestation. In placenta, the ratio of PG:LT produced from arachidonic acid and the ratio of total PGHS:lipoxygenase products rose significantly at term. In the day-125 fetuses treated with cortisol there was a significant increase in PG production relative to that in control fetuses infused with saline in placenta, amnion and chorion; the placenta and amnion being the major sites of PG production. Production of LTs and HETEs also rose significantly in the chorion and the placenta relative to controls. In both the placenta and the amnion there was a significant increase in the ratio of total PGHS to lipoxygenase products formed. We conclude that at term labour and in labour induced by intrafetal cortisol infusion, the placenta is the major site of arachidonic acid metabolism, and that there is a preferential increase in the formation of PGs over lipoxygenase products. These results are consistent with the suggestion that there is an increase in the expression or activity of PGHS in the placenta of sheep in late pregnancy.