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BOR - Papers in Press, published online ahead of print February 5, 2003.
Biol Reprod 2003, 10.1095/biolreprod.102.013763
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BIOLOGY OF REPRODUCTION 68, 2289–2296 (2003)
DOI: 10.1095/biolreprod.102.013763
© 2003 by the Society for the Study of Reproduction, Inc.

Pregnancy

A Functional Genomic Study to Identify Differential Gene Expression in the Preterm and Term Human Myometrium1

G. Charpigny3, M.-J. Leroy4, M. Breuiller-Fouché4, Z. Tanfin5, S. Mhaouty-Kodja6, Ph. Robin5, D. Leiber5, J. Cohen-Tannoudji6, D. Cabrol7, C. Barberis8, and G. Germain2,3

Physiologie Animale, INRA,3 Centre de Recherches de Jouy, 78352 Jouy en Josas cedex, France INSERM U 361,4 75014 Paris, France CNRS, UMR 8619,5 Université Paris Sud, 91405, Orsay cedex, France CNRS, UMR 7079,6 Université Pierre et Marie Curie 4, 75252 Paris cedex 05, France Maternité Port-Royal, Hopital-Cochin,7 Université René Descartes, 75014 Paris, France INSERM U469,8 34094 Montpellier Cedex 5, France

The mechanisms that lead to the onset of human parturition are still unknown, although selected critical factors have been identified. To investigate the changes in myometrial gene expression associated with parturition, we used two macroarrays each containing 1176 different complementary human cDNA clones. Methods involving hierarchical clustering and conventional statistical analysis allowed us to generate a profile of genes expression at three stages of late pregnancy: preterm (29 wk amenorrhea); full term, not in labor (38 wk amenorrhea); and full term in labor (39 wk amenorrhea). Only 4% of the genes investigated were differentially expressed between the preterm and term groups (P < 0.05). These genes could be clustered as groups of either down-regulated or up-regulated transcripts. The changes in transcript abundance were particularly marked between the preterm and term stages of gestation, whereas the differences between term not in labor and term in labor were less pronounced. The parturition was characterized by a massive down-regulation of a large panel of developmental, cell adhesion molecule and proliferation-related genes, along with the up-regulation of inflammatory, contraction and apoptosis associated genes. We propose that the mechanisms of parturition consist primarily in the arrest of the processes of myometrial development, a step that might be essential to allow the uterus to recover appropriate contractile function before delivery.

1 These results were presented orally at the International Philippe Laudat Conference on "preterm birth," Aix les Bains, France, October 2001.

2 Correspondence. FAX: 33 1 34 65 23 64; germain{at}jouy.inra.fr






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Copyright © 2003 by the Society for the Study of Reproduction.