CD45-positive Blood Cells Give Rise to Uterine Epithelial Cells in Mice

¹ NIMH
² NINDS, NCI
³ NIDCR, NIH, Bethesda, MD, (MJB) The J. Craig Venter Institute, Gaithersburg, MD, & Department of Dermato-Venereology, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: ezeye{at}mail.nih.gov.

	Abstract

The uterine endometrium is composed of epithelial and stromal cells, which undergo extensive degeneration and regeneration in every estrous cycle, and dramatic changes occur during pregnancy. The high turnover of cells requires a correspondingly high level of cell division by progenitor cells in the uterus but the character and source of these cells remain obscure. In the present study, using a novel transgenic mouse, we show that CD45 positive hematopoetic progeniotor cells colonize the uterine epithelium, and that in pregnancy more than 80% of the epithelium can derive from these cells. Since we also found GFP positive uterine endothelial cells in long term GFP bone marrow transplanted mice we conclude that circulating CD45+ cells play an important role in regenerating the uterine epithelium.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				A.O. Robb, N.L. Mills, I.B.J. Smith, A. Short, O. Tura-Ceide, G.R. Barclay, A. Blomberg, H.O.D. Critchley, D.E. Newby, and F.C. Denison Influence of menstrual cycle on circulating endothelial progenitor cells Hum. Reprod., December 16, 2008; (2008) den411v1. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]