Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-15-2024
Identifier
DOI: 10.1242/dev.202239
Abstract
Placental development involves coordinated expansion and differentiation of trophoblast cell lineages possessing specialized functions. Among the differentiated trophoblast cell lineages are invasive trophoblast cells, which exit the placenta and invade the uterus, where they restructure the uterine parenchyma and facilitate remodeling of uterine spiral arteries. The rat exhibits deep intrauterine trophoblast cell invasion, a feature shared with human placentation, and is also amenable to gene manipulation using genome-editing techniques. In this investigation, we generated a conditional rat model targeting the invasive trophoblast cell lineage. Prolactin family 7, subfamily b, member 1 (Prl7b1) is uniquely and abundantly expressed in the rat invasive trophoblast cell lineage. Disruption of Prl7b1 did not adversely affect placental development. We demonstrated that the Prl7b1 locus could be effectively used to drive the expression of Cre recombinase in invasive trophoblast cells. Our rat model represents a new tool for investigating candidate genes contributing to the regulation of invasive trophoblast cells and their roles in trophoblast-guided uterine spiral artery remodeling.
Journal Title
Development (Cambridge, England)
Volume
151
Issue
2
MeSH Keywords
Pregnancy; Rats; Female; Animals; Humans; Placenta; Placentation; Trophoblasts; Uterus; Cell Lineage; Models, Animal
Keywords
Cre recombinase; Invasive trophoblast cells; PRL7B1; Placenta; Rat; Uterine–placental interface
Recommended Citation
Iqbal K, Dominguez EM, Nixon B, et al. Conditionally mutant animal model for investigating the invasive trophoblast cell lineage. Development. 2024;151(2):dev202239. doi:10.1242/dev.202239
Comments
Grants and funding
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided that the original work is properly attributed.
Publisher's Link: https://journals.biologists.com/dev/article/151/2/dev202239/342398/Conditionally-mutant-animal-model-for