Microarray analysis of the transcriptome in the primate corpus luteum during chorionic gonadotropin administration simulating early pregnancy.

To explore chorionic gonadotropin (CG)-regulated gene expression in the primate corpus luteum (CL), adult female rhesus macaques were treated with a model of simulated early pregnancy (SEP). Total RNA was isolated from individual CL and hybridized to Affymetrix GeneChip Rhesus Macaque Genome Arrays The level of 1192 transcripts changed expression > 2-fold (one-way ANOVA, FDR correction; P<0.05) during SEP when compared to Day 10 untreated controls, and the majority of changes occurred between Days 10 and 12 of SEP. To compare transcript levels between SEP rescued and regressing CL, previously banked rhesus GeneChip array data from the mid- to late and very late luteal phase were analyzed with time-matched intervals in SEP. Comparing RMA-normalized transcripts from the natural cycle with those from luteal rescue revealed 7677 transcripts changing in expression pattern >2 fold (one-way ANOVA, FDR correction; P<0.05) between the two groups. Clustering of samples revealed that the SEP samples possessed the most related transcript expression profiles. Regressed CL (days 18-19, around menses) were the most unlike all other CL. The most affected KEGG pathway was Steroid Biosynthesis, and most significantly absent pathways following SEP treatment includes groups of genes whose products promote cell-death. By further comparing the genome-wide changes in luteal gene expression during rescue in SEP, with those in CL during luteolysis in the natural menstrual cycle, it is possible to identify key regulatory pathways promoting fertility.

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Bishop CV, Satterwhite S, Xu L, Hennebold JD, Stouffer RL