Regulation and restricted expression of interstitial collagenase suggest a pivotal role in the initiation of menstruation

Étienne Marbaix, E Marbaix, I Kokorine, Isabelle Kokorine, J. Donnez, Jacques Donnez, Y Eeckhout, Yves Eeckhout, Pierre J. Courtoy, P J Courtoy
Human Reproduction · 1996 · vol. 11(suppl 2) , pp. 134–143 · doi:10.1093/humrep/11.suppl_2.134 · PMID:8982755 · W2050050717
Lab / animal OA: bronze CC0 ⤵ 16 in-corpus citations
📄 Open PDF View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by gemini-2.5-flash-lite, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

Interstitial collagenase, restricted to areas of endometrial breakdown and regulated by sex steroids, is implied to play a key role in initiating menstruation due to its ability to degrade extracellular matrix.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

Collagenases are the only mammalian enzymes able to cleave, at neutral pH, the triple helical domain of fibrillar collagens, major constituents of the extracellular matrix of the endometrium. Interstitial collagenase is expressed, secreted and activated in human endometrium only just before and during menstruation. The expression of interstitial collagenase is restricted to the areas of the functional layer of the endometrium which are breaking down and to fragments which have been shed. In endometrial explants, combined sex steroids tightly control the expression, secretion and activation of interstitial collagenase, as well as the preservation of the extracellular matrix. These observations imply a pivotal role for this proteinase in the initiation of menstruation.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

MeSH descriptors

Collagenases Endometrium Estradiol Menstruation Progesterone Biopsy Collagenases Collagenases Endometrium Endometrium Endometrium Enzyme Activation Estradiol Estradiol Estradiol Female Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic Humans

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

Cited by (16)

Source provenance

openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-10-08T22:00:02.201502+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK