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Updated: Jul 25, 2025

Contractility Measurements of Human Uterine Smooth Muscle to Aid Drug Development
Published on: January 26, 2018
Golgi Reassembly Stacking Protein 2 Modulates Myometrial Contractility during Labor by Affecting ATP Production
Fan Yang1,2, Lina Chen1,2, Bolun Wen2
1School of Medicine, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China.
Abstract:
The mechanism of maintaining myometrial contractions during labor remains unclear. Autophagy has been reported to be activated in laboring myometrium, along with the high expression of Golgi reassembly stacking protein 2 (GORASP2), a protein capable of regulating autophagy activation. This study aimed to investigate the role and mechanism of GORASP2 in uterine contractions during labor. Western blot confirmed the increased expression of GORASP2 in laboring myometrium. Furthermore, the knockdown of GORASP2 in primary human myometrial smooth muscle cells (hMSMCs) using siRNA resulted in reduced cell contractility. This phenomenon was independent of the contraction-associated protein and autophagy. Differential mRNAs were analyzed using RNA sequencing. Subsequently, KEGG pathway analysis identified that GORASP2 knockdown suppressed several energy metabolism pathways. Furthermore, reduced ATP levels and aerobic respiration impairment were observed in measuring the oxygen consumption rate (OCR). These findings suggest that GORASP2 is up-regulated in the myometrium during labor and modulates myometrial contractility mainly by maintaining ATP production.
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