Research

Potential role of interleukin-1 at the peri-ovulation stage in a species of placental viviparous reptile, the three-toed skink, Chalcides chalcides (squamata: scincidae)

Roberta Romagnoli¹ , Chiara Cateni² , Fabio M Guarino³ , Elisa Bigliardi⁴ and Luana Ricci Paulesu⁵

¹  Department of Physiology, University of Siena, 53100 Siena, Italy

²  Department of Physiology, University of Siena, 53100 Siena, Italy

³  Department of Evolutionary and Comparative Biology, University of Naples, 80134 Naples, Italy

⁴  Department of Evolutionary Biology, University of Siena, 53100 Siena, Italy

⁵  Department of Physiology, University of Siena, 53100 Siena, Italy

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Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology 2003, 1:60doi:10.1186/1477-7827-1-60

Published:	18 September 2003

Abstract

We recently showed that interleukin-1 (IL-1) is secreted by the placenta of a species of squamate reptile, the three-toed skink, Chalcides chalcides. In this study, we used immunohistochemical techniques to investigate the expression of IL-1 (in the two isoforms, IL-1α and IL-1β) and its specific membrane receptor IL-1 RtI in uterine oviduct during the peri-implantation period. We found that both IL-1 and its receptor were expressed in uterine tissues before and after ovulation (in the pre-ovulatory stage, even before the yolk had formed in the ovary). However, while IL-1α was mostly localized in the uterine mesenchyme tissue, IL-1β and IL-1RtI were present in the uterine epithelium. Our data provide a further comparison between the reproduction of mammals and squamate reptiles.