Repository logo
 
Loading...
Profile Picture
Person

Rebordão Cordeiro Simões Crisóstomo, Maria Rosa

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Collagen Type III as a Possible Blood Biomarker of Fibrosis in Equine Endometrium
    Publication . Alpoim-Moreira, Joana; Fernandes, Carina; Rebordão, Maria Rosa; Costa, Ana Luísa; BliebernichT, Miguel; Nunes, Telmo; Szóstek-Mioduchowska, Anna; Skarzynski, Dariusz J.; Ferreira-Dias, Graça
    Collagen pathological deposition in equine endometrium (endometrosis) is responsible for infertility. Kenney and Doig’s endometrial biopsy histopathological classification is the gold standard method for endometrosis evaluation, whereby blood biomarkers identification would be less invasive and could provide additional information regarding endometrosis diagnosis and fertility prognosis. This study aimed to identify blood biomarkers for endometrosis diagnosis (42 mares were used in experiment 1), and fertility assessment (50 mares were used in experiment 2). Reproductive examination, endometrial biopsy histopathological classification (Kenney and Doig) and blood collection were performed. Endometrium and serum collagen type I (COL1) and type III (COL3), and hydroxyproline concentrations were measured (ELISA). Serum COL3 cut-off value of 60.9 ng/mL allowed healthy endometria (category I) differentiation from endometria with degenerative/fibrotic lesions (categories IIA, IIB or III) with 100% specificity and 75.9% sensitivity. This cut-off value enabled category I + IIA differentiation from IIB + III (76% specificity, 81% sensitivity), and category III differentiation from others (65% specificity, 92.3% sensitivity). COL1 and hydroxyproline were not valid as blood biomarkers. Serum COL3 cut-off value of 146 ng/mL differentiated fertile from infertile mares (82.4% specificity, 55.6% sensitivity), and was not correlated with mares’ age. Only COL3 may prove useful as a diagnostic aid in mares with endometrial fibrosis and as a fertility indicator.
  • The In vitro inhibitory effect of sivelestat on elastase induced collagen and metallopeptidase expression in equine endometrium
    Publication . Amaral, Ana; Fernandes, Carina; Rebordão, Maria Rosa; Szóstek-Mioduchowska, Anna; Lukasik, Karolina; Gawronska-Kozak, Barbara; Gama, Luis; Skarzynski, Dariusz J.; Ferreira-Dias, Graça
    Abstract: Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) fight endometritis, and elastase (ELA), a protease found in NETs, might induce collagen type I (COL1) accumulation in equine endometrium. Metallopeptidases (MMPs) are involved in extracellular matrix balance. The aim was to evaluate the e ects of ELA and sivelestat (selective elastase inhibitor) on MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression and gelatinolytic activity, as well as the potential inhibitory e ect of sivelestat on ELA-induced COL1 in equine endometrium. Endometrial explants from follicular (FP) and mid-luteal (MLP) phases were treated for 24 or 48 h with ELA, sivelestat, and their combination. Transcripts of COL1A2, MMP2, and MMP9 were evaluated by qPCR; COL1 protein relative abundance by Western blot, and MMP-2 and MMP-9 gelatinolytic activity by zymography. In response to ELA treatment, there was an increase in MMP2 mRNA transcription (24 h) in active MMP-2 (48 h), both in FP, and in MMP9 transcripts in FP (48 h) and MLP (24 h) (p < 0.05). Sivelestat inhibited ELA-induced COL1A2 transcripts in FP (24 h) and MLP (24 h, 48 h) (p < 0.05). The sivelestat inhibitory e ect was detected in MMP9 transcripts in FP at 48 h (p < 0.05), but proteases activity was unchanged. Thus, MMP-2 and MMP-9 might be implicated in endometrium fibrotic response to ELA. In mare endometrium, sivelestat may decrease ELA-induced COL1 deposition and hinder endometrosis development.
  • Enzymes present in neutrophil extracellular traps may stimulate the fibrogenic PGF(2 alpha) pathway in the mare endometrium
    Publication . Rebordão, Maria Rosa; Amaral, Ana; Fernandes, Carina; Silva, E; Lukasik, Karolina; Szóstek-Mioduchowska, Anna; Bravo, Pedro; Galvão, António; Skarzynski, Dariusz J.; Ferreira-Dias, Graça
    Endometrosis is a fibrotic disease in mare endometrium whose pathological mechanisms remain obscure. Prostaglandin (PG)F2α, despite modulating reproductive physiological processes, may also provoke local pathological collagen deposition (fibrogenesis). Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) released during inflammation have been linked to fibrogenesis in several tissues. We have previously shown that enzymes found in NETs increase in vitro collagen production in mare endometrium. In this study, activation of PGF2α-pathway in equine endometrial explants challenged in vitro by enzymes found in NETs is shown. Our results indicate that both endocrine microenvironment (estrous cycle phase) and healthy or pathological conditions of endometrial tissues play an important role in PGF2α-pathway activation. In the endometrium of the follicular phase, we have observed both high production of PGF2α and/or PGF2α receptor gene transcription under the action of enzymes found in NETs, both conditions associated with fibrogenesis in other tissues. Nevertheless, transcription of the PGF2α receptor gene does not appear to be hormone-dependent, albeit their levels seem to be dependent on endometrial category in the mid-luteal phase. This study suggests that enzymes existing in NETs may instigate changes on PGF2α mediators, which may become an additional mechanism of fibrogenesis in mare endometrium.