# FUNCTION OF THE DECIDUAL TISSUE

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO · 1994 · $133,533

## Abstract

The overall goal of this project is to examine the control and the role of
decidual tissue in the maintenance of pregnancy in the rat.  The first aim
will determine whether bFGF is responsible for the intense angiogenesis
that takes place in the site of nidation and decidualization, whether it is
produced by either perivascular decidual cells and/or endothelial cells,
and whether its synthesis is controlled by ovarian steroids.  A
morphological hallmark of decidualization is a striking transformation of
stromal cells into two different cell populations localized in the
mesometrial and antimesometrial region of the uterus.  Since both TGFalpha
and EGF receptors, through which TGFalpha stimulates cell differentiation,
are expressed in the decidual tissue, experiments are proposed to determine
whether: 1) differentiation and possibly cell proliferation of endometrial
stromal cells are induced by TGFalpha, and whether 2) immunoneutralization
of TGFalpha can prevent the action of both exogenously administered
TGFalpha on nontransformed cells and the endogenously formed growth factor
in transformed cells.  The possibility that either TGFalpha and/or EGF
receptor expression is regulated by ovarian steroids, which are
prerequisites for decidualization, will be examined.  Because stromal cell
differentiation occurs first in the antimesometrial region of the uterus,
and only several days later in the mesometrial region, the temporal
expression of TGFalpha and EGF receptors in both tissues will be assessed
throughout the development of the decidua.  The second aim of this proposal
will test the hypothesis that decidual tissue regression is due to a
programmed form of cell death or apoptosis, more specifically, 1) whether
cell death is accompanied by DNA fragmentation and increased endonuclease
activity, 2) whether new genes encoding endonucleases are expressed during
decidual cell regression, and 3) whether progesterone and progesterone
receptors play a role in decidual programmed cell death.  The third aim of
this proposal is to gain further insight into the secretion and action of
decidual hormone.  This will examine the physiological role of decidual
follistation, a FSH-inhibitor expressed abundantly in the decidua, on
follicular secretion of estradiol, and that of decidual luteotropin on
mesometrial expression of alpha2 macroglobulin.  Alpha2 macroglobulin is a
potent protease inhibitor which appears to play an important role in
limiting trophoblast cell invasion.  The last specific aim proposes to
establish a stable cell line of functional mesometrial and antimesometrial
cells in order to reduce the number of animals used, and to obtain an
unlimited number of hormone-secreting cells, either mesometrial or
antimesometrial.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 2196904
- **Project number:** 5R01HD012356-13
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO
- **SAM.gov UEI:** W8XEAJDKMXH3
- **Principal Investigator:** GEULA GIBORI
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1994
- **Award amount:** $133,533
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1978-12-01 → 1995-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/2196904

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 2196904, FUNCTION OF THE DECIDUAL TISSUE (5R01HD012356-13). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/2196904. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*