Aberrant expression of regulators of cell-fate found in eutopic endometrium is found in matched ectopic endometrium among women and in a baboon model of endometriosis.

Background: We have recently shown that women with endometriosis express an increased amount of telomerase and nucleolin, with concomitant loss of γ-H2AX in eutopic endometrium. To further examine these selected factors that regulate cell fate, in the pathogenesis of endometriosis, we studied the expression of telomerase, nucleolin, proliferating cell nuclear antigen and γ-H2AX in ectopic endometriotic deposits from women, and in matched eutopic and ectopic endometrial tissue from a baboon model of endometriosis.

Methods: Ectopic active peritoneal endometriotic lesions were collected from seven symptomatic women.

The endometrial response to chorionic gonadotropin is blunted in a baboon model of endometriosis.

Endometriosis-associated infertility has a multifactorial etiology. We tested the hypothesis that the endometrial response to the early embryonic signal, human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), alters over time in a nonhuman primate model of endometriosis. Animals with experimental or spontaneous endometriosis were treated with hCG (30 IU/d), from d 6 after ovulation for 5 d, via an oviductal cannula.

Connexin expression pattern in the endometrium of baboons is influenced by hormonal changes and the presence of endometriotic lesions.

Experimentally induced endometriosis in baboons serves as an elegant model to discriminate between endometrial genes which are primarily associated with normal endometrial function and those that are changed by the presence of endometriotic lesions. Since connexin genes are characteristic of the hormonally regulated differentiation of the endometrium, we have examined connexin expression in baboon endometrium to delineate if they are altered in response to the presence of endometriotic lesions. Connexin expression in the endometrium of cycling baboons is similar to that of the human endometrium with Connexin(Cx)43 being primarily seen in the stromal compartment and Cx26 and Cx32 being present predominantly in the epithelium.

Endometriosis is associated with progesterone resistance in the baboon (Papio anubis) oviduct: evidence based on the localization of oviductal glycoprotein 1 (OVGP1).

Endometriosis has been associated with a reduced response to progesterone in both the eutopic and ectopic endometrium. In this study we evaluated OVGP1 and steroid receptor expression in oviducts of baboons with endometriosis during the midsecretory phase and determined whether progesterone resistance associated with endometriosis also occurs in the oviduct. Oviducts obtained during the window of uterine receptivity (Day 10 postovulation [PO]) from animals with induced and spontaneous disease were compared to control animals during the proliferative stage and in the implantation window as well as animals treated with the progesterone receptor (PGR) antagonist ZK 137.

The altered distribution of the steroid hormone receptors and the chaperone immunophilin FKBP52 in a baboon model of endometriosis is associated with progesterone resistance during the window of uterine receptivity.

This study examines the distribution of estrogen receptors (ESR), progesterone receptors (Pgr), and the chaperone immunophilin FKBP52 in the eutopic endometrium in a baboon model of endometriosis during the window of receptivity to determine if their aberrant distribution contributes to reduced fecundity. Endometriosis was induced by inoculation of menstrual endometrium into the peritoneal cavity. Eutopic endometrium was collected at 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15 months postinoculation.