Cervical epithelium of the mouse during estrous cycle and the expression of GABA receptor in the cervical epithelium

Kao početni korak koji bi omogućio daljnje istraživanje uloge cervikalne sluzi u plodnosti, ovaj rad istražuje može li miš poslužiti kao eksperimentalni model za proučavanje karakteristika i regulacije lučenja cervikalne sluzi. U sklopu ostvarivanja prvog cilja, proučavanja promjena građe epitela sluznice cerviksa i lučenja sluzi tijekom spolnog ciklusa, provjerava se postupak uzimanja sekreta iz rodnice kao metode određivanja faze spolnog ciklusa u kojoj se miš nalazi. Nadalje, citološka analiza sekreta iz rodnice povezuje se s histološki prikazanim promjenama cervikalnog epitela i prisutnošću sluzi u pojedinim fazama. Histološko-kemijskim metodama dokazuje se da se proizvodnja sluzi odvija u cilindričnom epitelu cervikalne sluznice. Postizanje drugog cilja, istraživanje prisutnosti receptora neurotransmitera GABA u žljezdanim stanicama mišjeg cerviksa, uključuje dokazivanje ekspresije estrogenskog receptora RTPCR-om, kao i receptora za neurotransmiter GABA. Pod pretpostavkom da GABA receptor igra ulogu u regulaciji ciklusa, imunohistokemijom je prikazana njegova raspodjela u tkivu cerviksa i na taj način opravdava nastavak istraživanja usmjerenog na ovaj mehanizam regulacije lučenja cervikalne sluzi.
As a starting point to enable further exploration of the role of cervical mucus in fertility, this paper investigates whether a mouse can be used as an experimental model in studying characteristics and regulation of cervical mucus secretion. To achieve our first goal, the study of changes in the epithelial structure of the cervical mucosa and mucus secretion during the estrous cycle, the procedure of collecting samples of vaginal secretion to determine in which phase of the estrous cycle the mouse is, is reviewed. Furthermore, cytological analysis of the vaginal secretion is associated with the histologically shown changes in the cervical epithelium and mucus presence. Histologically-chemical methods prove that mucus secretion takes place in columnar epithelium of the cervical mucosa. The process of fulfilling the second objective, the research of neurotransmitter GABA receptor presence in the glandular epithelium of the mouse cervix, includes documenting estrogen receptor presence by RTPCR, as well as receptors for the neurotransmitter GABA. Assuming that the GABA receptor plays a role in the cycle regulation, immunohistochemistry shows its distribution in the cervical tissue and thus justifies further research on this mechanism of secretion regulation.