Menstrual cycle-associated alteration of sulfogalactosylceramide in human uterine endometrium: Possible induction of glycolipid sulfation by sex steroid hormones

Abstract The human uterine endometrium is a tissue in which cell proliferation and differentiation are strictly controlled by sex steroid hormones, and these hormone-controlled cellular events occurring in association with the menstrual cycle of the uterine endometrium should be accompanied by characteristic molecular and metabolic changes. To characterize the menstrual cycle at the molecular level, we analyzed the glycolipids of human uterine endometrium in the proliferative and secretory phases of the menstrual cycle. Neutral glycosphingolipids from uterine endometrium comprised globo-series glycosphingolipids, such as GlcCer, LacCer, Gb 3 Cer, and Gb 4 Cer, and the relative concentrations remained constant in the two phases. However, in the case of acidic glycosphingolipids, although the concentrations of sialoglycosphingolipids remained at constant levels in the two phases, sulfatide, I 3 -SulfoGalCer, dramatically increased from the proliferative to the secretory phase, amounting to 7–17 nmol/g dry weight in the proliferative phase and 115–245 nmol/g dry weight in the secretory phase. Since sulfatide was the only glycolipid that changed in association with the menstrual cycle, it is likely that the sulfotransferase responsible for the synthesis of sulfatide might be induced by sex steroid hormones, estrogen and progesterone, and that sulfatide might play an essential biological role in the secretory phase of the menstrual cycle in the uterine endometrium.