Abstract:
The receptivity of the endometrium is crucial for successful embryo implantation in cows. To explore the regulatory mechanism of leukemia inhibitory factor(LIF) on the development of endometrial receptivity in cows, the bovine endometrial epithelial cells were grouped into control group, LIF group and LIF+STAT3 group to investigate the effect of LIF on endometrial receptivity and the role of the STAT3 signaling pathway in the regulation of endometrial receptivity in cows. The changes of mRNA and protein expression of receptivity-related genes HOXa10 and VEGF, and inflammation-related genes TLR4 and NF-κB were investigated with Real-time RT-PCR and Western blot. The results showed that treatment with LIF alone significantly increased the expression of receptivity-related genes HOXa10 and VEGF(P<0.05) and inflammation-related genes TLR4 and NF-κB(P<0.05) in bovine endometrial epithelial cells. The combination of LIF and STAT3 inhibitor significantly decreased the expression levels of HOXa10 and VEGF, compared to the LIF-alone treatment group(P<0.05). However, showing no significant difference compared to the control group(P>0.05). The expression levels of TLR4 and NF-κB showed no significant difference from the LIF-alone treatment group(P>0.05), however, were significantly higher than the control group(P<0.05). It could be deduced that LIF would regulate the expression of HOXa10 and VEGF in bovine endometrial epithelial cells by activating the STAT3 signaling pathway and enhance the receptivity of bovine endometrial membrane.