Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Muchekehu, Ruth W.
• Quinton, Paul M.

Titel

A new role for bicarbonate secretion in cervico‐uterine mucus release

Ist Teil von

• The Journal of physiology, 2010-07, Vol.588 (13), p.2329-2342

Ort / Verlag

Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Erscheinungsjahr

2010

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Wiley-Blackwell Full Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Cervical mucus thinning and release during the female reproductive cycle is thought to rely mainly on fluid secretion. However, we now find that mucus released from the murine reproductive tract critically depends upon concurrent bicarbonate (HCO3−) secretion. Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2)‐ and carbachol‐stimulated mucus release was severely inhibited in the absence of serosal HCO3−, HCO3− transport, or functional cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR). In contrast to mucus release, PGE2‐ and carbachol‐stimulated fluid secretion was not dependent on bicarbonate or on CFTR, but was completely blocked by niflumic acid. We found stimulated mucus release was severely impaired in the cystic fibrosis ΔF508 reproductive tract, even though stimulated fluid secretion was preserved. Thus, CFTR mutations and/or poor bicarbonate secretion may be associated with reduced female fertility associated with abnormal mucus and specifically, may account for the increased viscosity and lack of cyclical changes in cervical mucus long noted in women with cystic fibrosis. In the female reproductive tract, the amounts of mucus and bicarbonate rise through the menstrual cycle to peak at the time of ovulation. We show that bicarbonate is essential for mucus release, which may help explain why mucus viscosity and bicarbonate secretion normally change concurrently. Fluid secretion is also required for mucus release; however, only the release of bicarbonate, not fluid, is dependent on the membrane protein CFTR, whose impaired function causes cystic fibrosis (CF). The findings suggest that abnormally low amounts of bicarbonate are an unappreciated factor in infertility associated with abnormal mucus.