| First Author | Sagae Y | Year | 2023 |
| Journal | Matrix Biol | Volume | 115 |
| Pages | 16-31 | PubMed ID | 36423736 |
| Mgi Jnum | J:351056 | Mgi Id | MGI:7410709 |
| Doi | 10.1016/j.matbio.2022.11.004 | Citation | Sagae Y, et al. (2022) Versican provides the provisional matrix for uterine spiral artery dilation and fetal growth. Matrix Biol |
| abstractText | The extracellular matrix (ECM) in the endometrium plays a crucial role in mammalian pregnancy. We have shown that versican secreted from the endometrial epithelium promotes embryo implantation. Versican is a proteoglycan, a major player in the provisional matrix, and versikine, its N-terminal fragment cleaved by ADAMTS proteinases, serves as a bioactive molecule. Here, since versican expression in the placenta was dynamically altered in humans and mice, we investigated the role of versican in pregnancy using uterine-specific Vcan deletion mice (uKO mice) and ADAMTS-resistant versican expressing mice (V1R mice). uKO mice exhibited insufficient spiral artery dilation, followed by fetal growth restriction and maternal hypertension. Further analysis revealed impaired proliferation of tissue-resident natural killer cells required for spiral artery dilation. V1R mice showed the same results as the control, eliminating the involvement of versikine. Our results provide a new concept that versican, one factor of ECM, contributes to placentation and following fetal growth. |
