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Tissue Plasminogen Activator and Its Receptor in the Human Amnion, Chorion, and Decidua at Preterm and Term¹

^a Pacific Biomedical Research Center and ^b Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822

The plasminogen activator system consists of two proteins: tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) and urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA), which act upon their specific receptors to generate plasmin from plasminogen located on the cell surface. Plasmin then acts directly and indirectly to degrade the components of the extracellular matrix (ECM). This process is likely to be important in the normal turnover of the ECM of fetal membranes and in its premature weakening in preterm premature rupture of the fetal membranes.

Quantitative Northern analysis and in situ hybridization have shown that the decidua expresses mRNA for tPA. However, the immunolocalized tPA protein was most strongly associated with the amnion and chorion, as was its receptor annexin II, suggesting that the amnion and chorion are the targets for decidual tPA.

At term, decidual tPA expression was unaffected by labor, and the tPA receptor was elevated both before and after labor. At preterm, the converse was found: decidual tPA expression was significantly (p < 0.05) up-regulated by labor, but the tPA receptor was not. The results suggest that the generation of plasmin at term would be controlled by an increased concentration of the tPA receptor in the amnion and chorion, whereas at preterm a pathological increase in plasmin would be generated by an overexpression of tPA, initiated by labor.

¹ This work was supported by NIH grants HD-24314 and grants to the University of Hawaii and Kapiolani Medical Center under the Research Centers of Minority Institutions Program of the NCRR (RRIAI-03061 and RR-11091). R.H.O. was a MARC undergraduate research scholar supported by a grant GM 07684.

² Correspondence: G.D. Bryant-Greenwood, Department of Anatomy and Reproductive Biology, University of Hawaii, 1960 East-West Road, Honolulu, HI 96822. FAX: 808 956 9481; gbg{at}pbrc.hawaii.edu

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