Estradiol regulation of oviductin/oviduct-specific glycoprotein messenger ribonucleic acid expression in human oviduct mucosal cells in vitro

Objective To determine whether oviduct mucosal cell culture with exogenous 17β E 2 supports the continued production of oviductin, a putative embryotrophic protein. Design Semiquantitative reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction analysis of oviductin mRNA expression after oviduct mucosal cell culture in the presence of 17β E 2 . Three different culture systems were studied to investigate the response to E 2 . Setting University-based obstetrics and gynecology department. Subjects Oviduct tissue was obtained from 18 women undergoing laparoscopy for benign gynecologic conditions. Intervention(s) The mucosal layer was isolated from the oviduct tissue and exposed to three different culture systems, which contained various concentrations of 17β E 2 , or vehicle-only control. Main outcome measure(s) The relationship between exposure to 17β E 2 and expression of oviductin messenger (m)RNA by cultured oviduct mucosal cells. Result(s) There was a significant increase in oviductin mRNA expression after the addition of 17β E 2 to the culture system in which the in vivo cell-to-cell and cell-to-basement-membrane contacts of the oviduct had been maintained. Conclusion(s) Estradiol failed to alter oviductin mRNA expression in oviduct mucosal cells cultured under conditions in which the ciliated mucosal cell phenotype plus the cell-to-cell and cell-to-basement-membrane contacts of the oviduct were lost. However, with a culture system that maintained the cell architecture, E 2 initiated and significantly increased oviductin mRNA expression.