Expression Of Tead4in Mouse Uterus During Periimplantation Period

The precise coordination between the receptive uterus and the blastocyst with adhesive abilityis necessary for successful pregnancy. Embryo implantation is followed by stromal cellproliferation and differentiation into decidual cells (decidualization). Decidualization is a processrequired for establishment and maintenance of pregnancy. Decidualization is regulated by manyfactors, such as steroids and their receptors, cytokines, transcription factors, cyclins and etc. Themechanism of decidualization is still largely unknown, although many related genes were foundby those researchers with gene knockout, DDRT-PCR, cDNA microarray and other methods.TEAD family is a class of transcription factors widely existing in eukaryotic cells whichidentify MCAT element of gene promoters and interact with YAP1, TAZ and VGL cofactors topromote the differentiation of myogenic cell and the specialization of embryonic trophectoderm. Sofar, the expression and regulation of TEAD transcription factors in mouse uterus has not beenreported.We study the expression and regulation patterns of Tead4in mouse uterus using RT-qPCR,Western blot and in situ hybridization techniques combined with early pregnancy, artificialdecidualization, pseudopregnancy, steroid hormone treatment and delayed implantation andactivation models.RT-qPCR results showed that the expression level of Tead4mRNA was gradually increased inmouse pregnant uterus with a sharp rise after embryo implantation on day5of pregnancy and thehighest level on day8of pregnancy.The signal of Tead4mRNAs was detected in the site of implantation in mouse uterus on day5pregnancy, but not in the site of non-implantation. Tead4mRNAs were expressed at high levels inthe decidua of normal pregnant mouse on day6~8of pregnancy. Tead4mRNAs were highlyexpressed in the decidua of the artificial decidualization uterus. Datas from the peseudopregnancyand delayed implantation suggested that the expression of Tead4mRNAs were induced by theactive blastocyst. The signal of Tead4mRNAs was not detected in the steroid hormone treatmentmodel. Tead4mRNAs were relatively highly expressed in the implanted embryos.Western blot analysis showed that TEAD4proteins were expressed in the mouse uterus on day8of pregnancy. However, we had not detected TEAD4proteins in the implantation site on day5ofpregnancy.This research showed that Tead4may play an important role in the implantation process and the highly expressed Tead4mRNAs in the decidua may be involved in the proliferation anddifferentiation of decidual cell.