지금까지 태반에서 monoamine들을 재 흡수할 수 있는 몇 가지 membrane transporter들이 발현됨이 보고되었다. 그러나 카테콜라민 트렌스포터(norepinephrine transporter, NET)의 발현과 부인과 질환을 포함한 태반 발달과의 연관성에 관한 연구는 거의 보고된 것이 없다. 본 연구의 목적은 태반에서 NET의 발현을 동정하고, 그 기능을 알아보고자 하였다. 이를 위해 정상과 자간전증(preeclampsia) 태반에서 각
Placenta has been shown to be a site of expression of several of the monoamine membrane uptake transporters. However, the correlation between the expressions of norepinephrine transporter (NET) and placental development including gynecological diseases is still unknown. To investigate the expression and functions of NET in placenta, we conducted to compare NET expression in normal and preeclamptic placenta and analyzed the function of NET in HTR8-SV/neo trophoblast cells after NET gene transfection. The expression of NET was analyzed in placental tissues from the following groups of patients (none underwent labor): 1) term normal placenta (n=15); 2) term with preeclamptic placeneta (n=15); and 3) pre-term with preeclamptic placenta (n=11) using semi-quantitative RT-PCR, immunohistochemistry, and Western blot. In order to evaluate the function of NET, NET gene plasmid and NET gene-specific siRNA were trnasfected into HTR-8/SVneo trophoblast cells for 24 hours. NET had low expression in the pre-eclamptic placenta compare with normal placenta but no difference in western blot data. NET was expressed in the trophoblasts, and the up-regulation of NET gene stimulated the invasion of HTR-8/SVneo trophoblast cells by 2.5 fold (p<0.05), whereas the NET-siRNA treatment reduced invasion rates. Also, we observed that the expression of NET induces to expression and activity of MMP-9 in HTR-8/SVneo trophoblast cells in zymography. The results suggest that the expression of NET were reduced in pre-eclampsia and should be inhibited invasion activity of trophoblasts. Therefore, these findings provide useful guidelines for the mechanisms of trophoblast invasion as well as for the basic understanding of gynecological diseases including pre-eclampsia.