Regulation of the PI3-K/Akt Survival Pathway in the Rat Endometrium

The occurrence of apoptosis and cell survival in the receptive uterus is intimately involved in the embryo implantation process in order to facilitate embryo attachment to the maternal endometrium. The initial stimulus leading to successful implantation might be triggered by the conceptus itself. By the end of rat embryo implantation, decidualization begins, followed by the regression of the decidua basalis on Day 14. The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-K) survival pathway and TGF-beta have been thought to play a role in this process. The objective of the present study was to investigate the regulation of the PI3-K/PTEN/Akt pathway in rat endometrium during pregnancy. Rats were killed on different days of pregnancy (Day 1-22 and postpartum) or pseudopregnancy (Day 1-9), and uteri were removed to collect endometrial tissues. The active form of Akt (pAkt) was increased at Day 5 of pregnancy and at Day 3 of pseudopregnancy as well as at Day 12 of pregnancy and at Day 1 postpartum. Of the three Akt isoforms (Akt1, Akt2, and Akt3), Akt3 was the only isoform phosphorylated at Day 5 during the implantation process and at postpartum as demonstrated by immunoprecipitation studies. PI3-K inhibition in vivo blocked Akt phosphorylation, reduced Smad2 phosphorylation, and reduced both TGF-beta2 and XIAP expression. PI3-K inhibition in cultured decidual cells led to inhibition of pAkt and decrease XIAP expression. These results suggest that Akt and XIAP may be important surviving signaling molecules by which apoptosis is regulated in the rat endometrium during pregnancy and that TGF-beta could be linked to this process.