Establishment of endometrial receptivity is vital for successful embryo implantation. Proprotein convertase 5/6 (referred to as PC6) is up-regulated in the human endometrium specifically at the time of epithelial receptivity. PC6, a serine protease of the proprotein convertase family, plays an important role in converting precursor proteins into their active forms through specific proteolysis. ...

Crosses among single-, double- and multi-petal jasmine cultivars (Jasminum sambac Aiton) are unable to easily generate hybrids. To identify the reproductive barriers restricting hybrid set, dynamic changes in jasmine pollen viability and pistil receptivity were compared at different flowering stages. Pollen-pistil interactions in six reciprocal crosses were also investigated to characterize pol...

In most animal species, particularly those in which females engage in polyandry, mate choice is a sequential process in which a female must choose to mate or not to mate with each male encountered. Although a number of theoretical and empirical investigations have examined the effects of sequential mate choice on the operation of sexual selection, how females respond to solicitation by previous...

Mating stimulation, particularly vaginal-cervical stimulation, causes estrous abbreviation in female rats. In most previous studies, female rats were repeatedly tested for sexual behavior until estrous termination occurred. Thus, it was not clear whether sensory stimulation (e.g., flank stimulation, olfactory cues) received during the repeated testing procedure contributed to estrous abbreviati...

Implantation in humans is a complex process that involves embryo apposition and attachment to the maternal endometrial epithelium, traversing adjacent cells of the epithelial lining, and invasion into the endometrial stroma. These processes involve a variety of molecules which are not unique in themselves, but play unique roles in the process of implantation. The molecular dialogue that occurs ...

Uterine receptivity to implantation varies among species, and involves changes in expression of genes that are coordinate with attachment of trophectoderm to uterine lumenal and superficial glandular epithelia, modification of phenotype of uterine stromal cells, silencing of receptors for progesterone and estrogen, suppression of genes for immune recognition, alterations in membrane permeabilit...

In order to examine the role of the medial zona incerta in female sexual behavior, ovariectomized estrogen and progesterone treated female rats were tested for sexual receptivity following bilateral injections of the selective neurotoxin, ibotenic acid (3 ugjO.3 ul dissolved in phosphate-buffered saline) directly into the medial zona incerta. These injections produced a significant attenuation ...

Throughout the animal kingdom, sexual pheromones are used for the attraction of mates and as courtship signals but also enable sexual isolation between species. In the parasitic wasp Lariophagus distinguendus, male courtship behaviour consisting of wing fanning, antennal stroking of the female antenna, and head nodding stimulates female receptivity leading to copulation. Recently L. distinguend...

Exposure to tobacco-related marketing has been implicated as one of the risk factors for tobacco use among adolescents. However, tobacco-related marketing exposure has been measured in different ways in different studies, including perceived pervasiveness, receptivity, recognition, recall, and affect. It is not known whether these measures represent one or more underlying constructs and how the...

BACKGROUND Although embryo implantation is a prerequisite for human reproduction, it remains a poorly understood process. The molecular mechanisms regulating endometrial receptivity and/or embryo implantation are still largely unclear. METHODS Pubmed and Medline literature databases were searched for articles in English published up to December 2013 with relevant keywords including 'endometri...