Progesterone fluctuated signals in females induced by reproductive aging

2022年，我们清除了Tcf 23基因敲除（KO）小鼠的生殖表型。雌性KO小鼠的子宫内膜蜕膜化和妊娠维持没有缺陷;然而，老年KO小鼠的子宫肌层对催产素和其他收缩刺激的反应较差。为了更深入地了解机制，对KO子宫肌层进行了RNA-seq分析，结果显示KO小鼠中几个收缩相关基因表达下调。此外，基于先前的出版物，有一种新的可能的蛋白质直接与Tcf 23结合并控制子宫肌层功能。tcf 23可能通过与未知蛋白形成异源二聚体而抑制其功能，从而负性调节子宫肌层收缩。

In 2022, we cleared reproductive phenotypes of Tcf23 knockout (KO) mice. The female KO mice showed no defects of decidualization of endometrium and the maintenance of pregnancy; however the myometrium of aged KO mice poorly responded to the oxytocin and other contraction stimuli. To understand the mechanism more deeply, RNA-seq analysis of KO myometrium was performed, and the results showed several contraction-related genes were downregulated in KO mice. In addition, based on the previous publication, there was an new possible protein to directly bind to Tcf23 and control the myometrium function. Tcf23 might negatively regulate the myometrium contraction by foming the heterodimer with the unkonwn protein and block it's function.