The postimplantation embryo differentially regulates endometrial gene expression and decidualization.

Transcriptomal changes in the uterine endometrium induced in response to the implanting embryo remain largely unknown. In this study, using Affymetrix mRNA expression microarray analysis, we identified genes differentially expressed in the murine endometrium in the presence or absence of the embryo. Compared with the pseudopregnant deciduoma induced by a mechanical stimulus in the absence of an embryo, approximately 1500 genes (753 up-regulated, 686 down-regulated; P < 0.

Telomerase deficiency impairs differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells.

Expression of telomerase activity presumably is involved in maintaining self-replication and the undifferentiated state of stem cells. Adult mouse bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (mMSCs) are multipotential cells capable of differentiating into a variety of lineage cell types, including adipocytes and chondrocytes. Here we show that the lacking telomerase of mMSC lose multipotency and the capacity to differentiate.