Abstract
This study investigated the protein kinase C (PKC) and matrix metalloproteinase‐2 (MMP‐2) in the development of deciduomata in pseudo‐pregnant and pregnant rats. The results showed that the expression of MMP‐2 was significantly increased from day 2 to day 5 in pseudo‐pregnancy and from day 7 to day 9 in pregnancy. To further investigate the correlation between MMP‐2 and protein kinase Cα (PKCα), the expression of MMP‐2 in the 12‐O‐tetradecanoylphorbol 13‐acetate (TPA)‐treated organotypic culture of decidual tissue was determined. The results showed that the active form of MMP‐2 was significantly increased in the TPA‐treated cultures. Moreover, this response was inhibited by the PKC inhibitor H7, the PKCα specific inhibitor Gö‐6976 and the translation inhibitor cycloheximide, but not by the transcription inhibitor actinomycin D or the replication inhibitor mitomycin C. In addition, TPA also reversed the MMP‐2 expression after by progesterone pretreatment in the primary decidual cells. These findings indicate that PKCα may play an important role in the regulation of the MMP‐2 expression during decidualization. J. Cell. Biochem. 108: 547–554, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.