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Structural differentiation of luminal membrane in rat uterus during normal and experimental implantations

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Summary

The ultrastructure of the luminal surface in the rat uterus of normal implantation changed at the period when the attachment of the blastocysts occurred. The pre-attachment stage was characterized by epithelial cells with many apical vesicles and a cell surface with regularly arranged microvilli intermingled with protrusions of the apical cytoplasm. The attachment stage was dominated by epithelial cells with few apical vesicles and a cell surface, where the regular microvilli had changed into irregular projections.

Similar ultrastructural changes were obtained both during experimental mplantations and in uteri of spayed animals, conditioned to accept transplanted blastocysts.

It was concluded that the functional differentiation during the blastocyst attachment was associated with a structural differentiation of the uterine surface epithelium and that the structural differentiation seemed to be a primary effect of estrogen.

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Author notes

  1. O. Nilsson

    Present address: Department of Human Anatomy, Uppsala, Sweden

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Histology, Faculty of Medicine, Bordeaux, France

    O. Nilsson

  2. Faculty of Science, Centre of Electron Microscopy, Bordeaux, France

    O. Nilsson

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  1. O. Nilsson
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Additional information

Supported partly by the Swedish Medical Research Council (Projects No Y 172 and Y 688). The work was made during a research stay at the Department of Histology (Dr. G. Mayer), Bordeaux; and the Centre of Electron Microscopy (Dr. R. Cambar), Bordeaux.

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Nilsson, O. Structural differentiation of luminal membrane in rat uterus during normal and experimental implantations. Z. Anat. Entwickl. Gesch. 125, 152–159 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00521117

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00521117

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