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.

본 연구에서는 비교적 가격이 저렴하고 부작용이 없으면서 효능이 우수한 피부 노화 억제 제품을 개발하고자 먼저 다양한 종류의 약용식물을 대상으로 각종 유기용매 추출물을 제조한 후 이들의 elastase 저해 활성을 측정하여 우수 식물을 선발하고 이들로 부터 elastase 저해제 추출 최적조건을 검토하였다. 64종의 약용식물에 대한 다양한 추출물 가운데 복분자 메탄올 추출물의 elastase 저해 활성이 85%로 가장 높았고 이 저해물질은 메탄올로 50℃에서 12시간 진탕 시켰을 때 가장 많이 추출 되었다.