Temporal changes in Neutral Endopeptidase/CD10 immunoexpression in the cyclic and early pregnant canine endometrium.

• Autor(a) principal: Payan-Carreira, Rita
• Data de Publicação: 2014
• Outros Autores: Santos, Celso, Miranda, Sónia, Neto Pereira, Rosa L., Santos, Dario, Pires, Maria dos Anjos
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10348/3215
• topic: Neutral endopeptidase; CD10; endometrial stroma; oestrous cycle; early pregnancy; immunohistochemistry; female dog

CD10 is a multifunctional transmembrane neutral endopeptidase (NEP), considered to be a reliable marker of ectopic human endometrial stroma. Available information in NEP/CD10 protein expression in animal endometria is scarce. This study focused on the immunolocalization of NEP/CD10 in the canine uterus and on its temporal changes during the oestrous cycle and early pregnancy (days 11 to 23 post-LH surge) in healthy females. NEP/CD10 expression was found in the canine endometrial stroma in all stages of the oestrous cycle, showing cyclic differences both in intensity and in distribution pattern. A small population of negative stromal cells in subsurface position was also observed. This population shared some morphological characteristics with the human predecidual cells, which became positive in progesterone-associated stages of the cycle. In addition, positive immunolabelling was also observed in canine myometrial stroma. In early pregnancy, the basal glandular epithelia and the syncytium cords, remained negative to this marker,, contrasting with the trophoblast and the lacunar epithelium. A weak to moderate intensity of immunolabelling was observed in the decidual cells, while stromal immunolabelling was more intense at the delimitation of the syncytium cords. In conclusion, CD10 is consistently expressed in the canine endometrial stroma and myometrium, but not in endometrial epithelia. The characteristic pattern seen in early pregnancy also suggests a role for this molecule in the process of embryo invasion at implantation.