First Name:
Bao-Tran
Last Name:
Nguyen
Major Department:
Biology
Thesis Director:
Chishimba Mowa
Date of Thesis:
May 2012
One of the key characteristics of a remodeling cervix includes the prominence of vascular events, such as angiogenesis, vasodilation, and vascular permeability. Although the significance of these events is unclear, we know that, in other body tissue types, these vascular events are normally associated with inflammation, which is known to play a critical role in cervical remodeling. Because the major inducer of vascular remodeling is vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), we sought to examine whether VEGF induces inflammation in the cervix and elucidate its relationship with lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammatory response (IL-6 and TNF-α mRNA expression) in the cervix. Mice were divided into 4 treatment groups (n=3): a) negative control (vehicle only), b) positive control (LPS), c) recombinant VEGF-164 protein (two doses prior to harvesting), and d) VEGF blocker (1 hr prior to LPS administration). The cervices were harvested and analyzed using real-time PCR and confocal imaging. Results showed that VEGF up-regulates expression of IL-6 mRNA expression, whereas mice treated with VEGF blocker and LPS had levels approximately 3,000-fold lower than those of positive control. We conclude that there is a positive feed forward relationship between VEGF and inflammation.