Cell culture treatment and transfection

EnSCs were subjected to treatment with PlGF (#P1588, Sigma) at a concentration of 20 ng/ml for 6 days⁶⁸. For decidualization, EnSCs were treated with 0.5 μM 8-Bromoadenosine-3’,5’-cyclic monophosphate sodium salt (cAMP) (#1140, Tocris) and 1 μM Medroxyprogesterone 17-acetate (MPA) (#M6013, Sigma) for 6 days⁶⁹. The cell culture medium was replaced every 48 h with fresh treatment media. The experimental groups are indicated as control (untreated EnSCs), PlGF, cAMP+MPA, and cAMP+MPA+ PlGF.

Where indicated, EnSCs were treated with pravastatin (Pravastatin sodium salt hydrate, #P4498, Sigma) with or without PlGF treatment at 10 µM for 24 h⁷⁰. The experimental groups are classified as control (untreated EnSCs), PlGF, pravastatin (Prav), and pravastatin + PlGF (Prav + PlGF). Epidermal Growth factor (EGF) was used as a positive control for Rac1 activation. (#324831, Sigma) at a concentration of 100 ng/ml for 24 h⁷¹.

For gene silencing, EnSCs were treated with siRNAs⁷², such as siRac1 (50 nM, #L-003560-00-0010, Dharmacon), siPAK1 (20 µM, #L-003521-00-0010, Dharmacon), and siWAVE2 (5 nM, #s55787, ThermoFisher Scientific). The siRNAs were transfected with Lipofectamine RNAiMAX (#13778075, ThermoFisher Scientific) for 48 h with and without combination with PlGF treatment.