Circ0001470 Acts as a miR-140-3p Sponge to Facilitate the Progression of Embryonic Development through Regulating PTGFR Expression

Embryonic implantation and development are vital in early pregnancy and assisted reproduction. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are involved in the two physiological processes and thus regulate animal reproduction. However, their specific regulatory functions and mechanisms remain unclear. Here, a novel circ0001470, originating from the porcine GRN gene, differentially expressed on day 18 versus day 32 of gestation in Meishan and Yorkshire pigs was screened. The circularization characteristic of circ0001470 was identified based on divergent primer amplification, Sanger sequencing, RNase digestion, and RNA nuclear-cytoplasmic fractionation. Functionally, circ0001470 can promote cell proliferation and cycle progression of endometrial epithelial cells (EECs) and also inhibit apoptosis of EECs using CCK-8 assays and flow cytometry analyses. Mechanistically, bioinformatics database prediction, luciferase screening, RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP), RNA-pull down, and FISH co-localization experiments revealed that the circ0001470 acted as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) through sponging miR-140-3p to regulate downstream PTGFR expression. Moreover, in vivo assays revealed that mmu_circGRN promoted embryonic development by affecting the expression of PTGFR, which can activate the MAPK reproduction pathway and facilitate pregnancy maintenance. This study enriched our understanding of circRNAs in embryo implantation and development by deciding the fate of EECs.