Relative role of CSF-1, MCP-1/JE, and RANTES in macrophage recruitment during successful pregnancy

Abstract

It has been previously demonstrated that macrophage colony stimulating factor (CSF‐1) is produced by uterine epithelial cells in response to estrogen and progesterone. Studies in normal and op/op mice demonstrated that accumulation of a portion of the uterine macrophage population could be attributed to the chemotactic properties of CSF‐1. Op/op mice exhibit greatly reduced rates of fertility, but successful pregnancy is not completely blocked. Also, uteri from op/op mice are not completely macrophage deficient. There are two possible explanations for this. One is that not all tissue macrophages are recruited from the bone marrow pool; some may be derived from primitive mesenchyme. Alternatively, tissue macrophages may be recruited from the bone marrow pool through expression of other type I chemokines such as JE, RANTES, MIP‐1α, MIP‐1β, IP‐10, and KC. Both RANTES and JE are expressed at higher levels than CSF‐1 during early pregnancy. The variable expression and relative role of these various chemokines in pregnancy was addressed by measuring mRNA expression during the first 8 days of pregnancy and in a pseudopregnant model. The expression of these various genes relative to macrophage numbers and macrophage distribution will be discussed. The relative role of these various factors in preparing the uterus for blastocyst implantation will be discussed. Mol Reprod Dev 46:62–70, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Multiplex determination of murine seminal fluid cytokine profiles

“…Speculatively, high seminal eotaxin and RANTES levels may further operate directly on these eosinophils as they express -at least -an eotaxin-specific receptor which may regulate their selective recruitment (Mould et al 1997). Unlike in man, murine coitus results in the deposition of semen directly into the uterus where, as allogenic material, it triggers an acute inflammatory response (Wood et al 1997). Thus, seminal fluid constituents -potentially including eotaxin, MIP-a, IL-1b and IL-9 -initiate a surge in the synthesis of other cytokines (e.g.…”

Expression of Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor, Scavenger Receptors, and Macrophage Proliferation in the Pregnant Mouse Uterus.

“…We further detected macrophage chemoattractants, MCP-1 and MIP-la, in the pregnant uterus. The expression of RANTES and MCP-1 has been demonstrated in the pregnant murine uterus (WOOD et al, 1997). These findings suggest that M-CSF and chemokines in combination contribute to the recruitment of macrophages.…”

“…A variety of uterine cell types undergo dramatic changes during the course of pregnancy. The number of macrophages increases significantly during this time (WOOD et al, 1997). Similar to inflammation, this macrophage accumulation results in the production of various cytokines in the pregnant uterus (BARTOCCI et al, 1986;ARCECI et al, 1989;ROBERTSON and SEAMARK, 1992;HUNT et al, 1993). Among several macrophage growth factors, the macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF/CSF-1) plays an important role in the development, differentiation, proliferation, and chemokinetics of macrophages (LADNER et al, 1987;WONG et al, 1989;CECCHINI et al, 1994;METCALF and NICOLA, 1995;WEBB et al, 1996).…”

Seminal plasma regulates endometrial cytokine expression, leukocyte recruitment and embryo development in the pig

“…Several chemokines targeting macrophages and granulocytes are also induced within hours of mating (Wood et al 1997, Pollard et al 1998 and it is likely that these cytokines function synergistically to orchestrate extravasation and spatial positioning as well as the activation phenotypes of inflammatory cells. The current study has suggested that expression of these same pro-inflammatory mediators are induced in the porcine uterus after interaction between seminal plasma and uterine cells, with GM-CSF, IL-6 and MCP-1 each induced after seminal plasma exposure.…”