Progesterone Promotes HOXa-10 Expression in Mouse During Embryo Implantation Period

HOXa-10 (HomeoboxA10) gene plays an important role in embryo implantation and development regulated by Progesterone (P4) which is secreted mainly through corpus luteum cells to regulate the embryo development. The study mainly investigated the effect of progesterone on the expression of HOXa-10 in the endometrium during the embryo implantation. Kunming mice were injected progesterone (2 or 4 mg/each per day), respectively from early pregnant D1 the 1st day of pregnancy) to D4 (the 4th day of pregnancy) or D6 (the 6th day of pregnancy) by intraperitoneal injection. The endometrium samples of early pregnant D4, D5 (the 5th day of pregnance) and D6, from 3 groups were collected with each group containing 3 mice. Real-time fluorescence Quantitative PCR (QPCR) was used to analyze the expression of the mouse HOXa-10 gene. The result demonstrated that the expression level of HOXa-10 was increased at pregnant D4 and there was a peak at pregnant D5 then it began to decrease at pregnant D6. Besides, the expression level of HOXa-10 was dependent on the dose of progesterone.