Controlled ovarian hyperstimulation increases the expression of apelin and apelin receptor in uterus

Abstract

Objective; In this study, we investigated whether superovulation, which is frequently used in the clinic as controlled ovarian hyperstimulation, affect the expression of Apelin (APLN) and Apelin Receptor (APJ) in the uterus. Methods: Twelve female Balb-C mice 6-8 weeks old were used in this study. The groups were established as follows; virgin control female group (Knt) which did not receive any treatment, the pregnant control group (GK) which was on their pregnancy day 1, and the PMSG+hCG group (P+H) that received 5 IU/mouse/intraperitoneal (ip) PMSG and 5 IU/mouse/ip hCG . Vaginal plaque control was performed on the day after mating in the P+H and GK groups, and vaginal plaque-positive mice were accepted at day 0.5 of pregnancy. Mice in the P+H group were sacrificed 42 hours after hCG injection. Uterine tissues were obtained from all groups for immunohistochemical analysis, and paraffin sections were obtained. Adipose tissue was used as a positive control. Results: In the Knt group, APLN protein expression was present especially in the uterine glands and stromal cells that are located close to the glands. The localization of APJ protein expression was also similar to APLN. In the GK group, APLN and APJ expression levels were similar to the Knt group. However, when the localization of APJ was evaluated, it has been observed that APJ expression was intensely expressed especially in the perimetrial glands of the uterus, which was not present in the Knt group. In the P+H group, APLN expression significantly increased in the endometrial glands and stromal cells compared to the Knt and GK groups (p