The tremendous changes of uterine endometrium are observed during early pregnancy and protease and their inhibitors are involved in regulation of cell proliferation and remodeling of the tissues through remodeling the extracellular matrix (ECM). Some of the proteases and protease inhibitors have been suspected to a factor in endometrial changes but many parts of their expression profiles and the physiological roles are not uncovered. To evaluate the functional roles of them, in this study the expression profiles of proteases and protease inhibitors were analyzed using real-time quantitative PCR analysis. Mmp9 (matrix metalloproteinase 9) mRNA levels peaked on day 4 at the time of implantation. On the other hand, Ela2 (neutrophil elastase, NE) mRNA levels were peaked on day 2 of pregnancy. Its expression were decreased until day 4 of pregnancy but increased rapidly until day 7 of pregnancy and decreased again. NE inhibitor Slpi (secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor, SLPI) mRNA levels were related with the implantation stage and with the levels of Ela2. At the time of implantation the expression levels of Slpi mRNA were about 5 times higher than the Ela2 mRNA in the uterus. In the implantation stage embryos, Mmp9 specific mRNA was only detected at the blastocyst. On the other hand, the expression level of SLPI was higher than that of the Ela2 mRNA at blastocyst and 4.5 day p.c. embryos. Based on these results it is suggested that MMP9, SLPI, and NE have important physiological role in embryo implantation both in uterus and embryos.

• Cheon Yong-Pil