A New Role for Activin in Endometrial Repair after Menses

Abstract

Abnormal uterine bleeding can severely affect the quality of life for women. After menstruation, the endometrium must adequately repair to limit and stop bleeding. Abnormal uterine bleeding may result from incorrect or inadequate endometrial repair after menstruation. Previous studies have shown an important contribution of activin to skin wound healing, with severely delayed wound repair observed in animals transgenically induced to overexpress activin's natural inhibitor, follistatin. Activin subunits have also been identified within human endometrium; however, their role in endometrial repair is unknown. We assessed the contribution of activin to endometrial repair after menses using a hu..