Thrombospondin-1 expression in human myometrium before and during pregnancy, before and during labor, and in human myometrial cells in culture

The activation of latent transforming growth factor beta (L-TGFbeta) is essential for the action of TGFbeta, which, in turn, is involved in the regulation of expression of some progesterone-responsive genes. One mechanism by which TGFbeta is activated involves thrombospondin (TSP), a protein that binds extracellular proteins. Immunoreactive TSP (irTSP) protein and TSP-1 mRNA in myometrial tissues of ovulatory and pregnant women were localized by immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization. IrTSP and TSP-1 mRNA were randomly distributed in myometrial smooth muscle cells of some, but not all, tissues of pregnant women at term before labor; but in some areas of most of these tissues, irTSP was intense and commonly localized extracellularly. Intense irTSP and TSP-1 mRNA in myocytes were more common in myometrium during labor. In myometrium from ovulatory women (n = 26), irTSP was localized primarily in vascular smooth muscle cells and was detected occasionally in scattered myocytes. Little TSP-1 mRNA was demonstrable by in situ hybridization in vessels or myocytes of myometrial tissue from ovulatory women (n = 7). By Northern analysis of total RNA, TSP-1 mRNA was detected in myometrial tissue of pregnant women and in human myometrial smooth muscle cells in culture. The levels of TSP-1 mRNA in myometrial tissues of pregnant women during labor (n = 18) were greater than those in myometrium at > 37 wk gestation before labor began (n = 25, p < 0.001). The ratios of TSP-1 to glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase mRNAs in 3 myometrial tissues during oxytocin-induced labor were not statistically different from those in myometrium during spontaneous labor but were greater than those in myometrium before labor (p < 0.05). The level of TSP-1 mRNA in confluent human myometrial cells in culture was relatively high, was increased by treatment with fetal bovine serum, and was decreased by treatment with platelet-derived growth factor or activators of adenylyl cyclase or protein kinase C. Myometrial cells in culture constitute a useful model for studying the regulation of TSP-1 gene expression in human myometrium.