The CMP is able to inhibit a wide range of both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria in vitro, including Streptococcus spp., Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas spp. 2005), and the CMP exhibits an intrinsic antimicrobial activity as well. Levels of IgG and IgA are increased significantly in the CMP during pregnancy in women ( Hein et al. In women, the CMP has been shown to be important in both the adaptive and innate immune systems. The CMP may provide an additional physical and physiological barrier protecting the uterus from infiltration of bacteria during pregnancy ( Lee et al. The cervix of the mare lacks anatomical features such as interlocking cervical rings noted in other large domestic animals ( el-Banna & Hafez 1972, Senger 1999). The mucus formed in the equine cervix during pregnancy (cervical mucus plug – CMP) is believed to play a critical role as a barrier to microbial entry into the pregnant uterus. The structural and compositional changes serve to provide both a structural barrier as well as a physiological barrier during pregnancy to prevent infection of the fetus and fetal membranes. In summary, composition of the equine CMP is specifically regulated not only during pregnancy but also throughout the estrous cycle. Proteins traditionally considered to be endometrial proteins were found to be produced by the cervical mucosa suggesting that the primary source of the CMP is the cervical mucosa itself. Overall, we demonstrated that the CMP is composed of a complex milieu of proteins during late gestation, many of which play an important role in immune function. To identify the origin of highly abundant proteins in the CMP, we performed qPCR on endometrial and cervical mucosal mRNA from mares in estrus, diestrus as well as mares at 4 and 10 m gestation on transcripts for lactotransferrin, uterine serpin 14, uteroglobin, uteroferrin, deleted in malignant brain tumors 1 and mucins 4, 5b and 6. Histologic sections of the CMP were stained with H&E and PAS. Results were searched against EquCab2.0, and proteomic pathways were predicted by Ingenuity Pathway Analysis. To determine the proteomic composition of the CMP, we collected CMPs from mares ( n = 4) at 9 months of gestation, and proteins were subsequently analyzed by nano-LC–MS/MS. Unfortunately, very little is known about its composition or origin. The cervical mucus plug (CMP) is believed to play an integral role in the maintenance of pregnancy in the mare, primarily by inhibiting microbial entry.
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