The Joint Annual Scientific Meetings of the Endocrine Society of Australia and the Society for Reproductive Biology 2018

A role for α -parvin and β -parvin in implantation and decidualisation during early pregnancy in the rat (#384)

Leigh Nicholson 1 , Romanthi Madawala 2 , Laura Lindsay 1 , Chris Murphy 1
  1. University of Sydney, Darlington, NSW, Australia
  2. Kolling Institute, Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney

During early pregnancy, the uterine luminal epithelial cells (UECs) and the endometrial stromal cells (ESCs) exhibit morphological changes to promote successful blastocyst implantation and decidualisation. The present study investigated cytoskeletal-associated proteins, α-parvin and β-parvin, during uterine receptivity in the rat. α-parvin and β-parvin are both involved in cell adhesion and cytoskeletal changes through binding with proteins such as actin and integrin-linked kinase (ILK). α-parvin was found present in UECs at fertilisation, decreasing by the time of implantation. β-parvin acted in opposition; significantly increasing in both UECs and ESCs at the time of implantation, suggesting a role in the process of decidualisation. Additionally, the presence of α-parvin phosphorylated at the serine-8 residue, a post-translational modification associated with cell morphology changes, was found in the nuclear region of both UECs and ESCs during implantation and decidualisation. The current study confirmed that the presence of both β-parvin and phosphorylated α-parvin in ESCs was dependent on decidualisation occurring. This study demonstrated that the alternating balance and localisation of α-parvin and β-parvin is dependent on uterine receptivity, suggesting a co-dependent role in the cytoskeletal re-organisation crucial to the changing conditions necessary for implantation and decidualisation.