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Morphology of the rat endometrial stroma at the appearance of the pontamine blue reaction during implantation after an experimental delay

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The morphology of the endometrial stroma in rats was studied at the appearance of the Pontamine Blue Reaction (PBR) during estradiol-induced implantation after an experimental delay. The rats were killed 20, 24 and 28 h after the administration of estradiol (h.a.e.). The PBR was invariably absent 20 h.a.e., whereas at the later observation times it was always present around the blastocysts. Blastocyst-free (control) and blastocyst-containing sites of plastic-embedded uteri were identified by serial sectioning according to a technique specially developed for this purpose.

Light microscopically, a pronounced stromal edema developed at the appearance of the PBR. However, comparisons between control and blastocystcontaining sites from the same animals revealed a moderate but clearly distinguishable edema in the vicinity of some 60 % of the blastocysts already before the PBR, i.e. 20 h.a.e. This might indicate that at implantation the increase in vascular permeability develops slowly, and that the PBR is a rather late sign of the vascular changes.

Electron microscopic differences were also noted between the control and the blastocyst-containing sites before the PBR. The stromal cell nucleoli around the blastocysts 20 h.a.e. exhibited marked qualitative changes, and seemed to contain more of the granular nucleolonemal component than those of the controls. Furthermore, the cytoplasmic free ribosomes were arranged as polyribosomes, whereas those of the controls primarily appeared single. After the appearance of the PBR, the stromal cells of the blastocyst-containing sites grew larger, and became closely packed forming a cup around the antimesometrial end of the lumen. This was accompanied, among other things, by growth of the nucleoli and of the granular endoplasmic reticulum, and by the development of specialized pentalaminar intercellular junctions. The findings suggest a blastocyst-induced enhancement of the stromal cell synthetic activity, which is well advanced at the appearance of the PBR. The changes observed prior to the PBR might be related to the induction of the decidual reaction.

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  1. Reproduction Research Unit, Biomedical Centre, Uppsala, Sweden

    Örjan Lundkvist & Ingvar Ljungkvist

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  1. Örjan Lundkvist
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  2. Ingvar Ljungkvist
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This work was supported by grants from the Medical Faculty at the University of Uppsala and the Swedish Medical Research Council (Project No 12X-70). — Technical assistance: Miss Marianne Grubb, Mrs Barbro Einarsson and Athanasius Venardos

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Lundkvist, Ö., Ljungkvist, I. Morphology of the rat endometrial stroma at the appearance of the pontamine blue reaction during implantation after an experimental delay. Cell Tissue Res. 184, 453–466 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00220969

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