functional investigation of granulated lymphocytes in human decidua

introduction: introduction: leucocytes accounted for 26-36% of the stromal cells in decidua of the first trimester of gestation in which 75% of them is related to endometrial granulated lymphocytes (egl) with an unusual natural killer (nk) cell-like phenotype. different roles are proposed for egl, but fundamental role of these cells in control for normrly underestood. material and methods: in this study immunosuppressive activity of supernatants prepared from ten sample of normal first trimester decidua which cultured into cell suspension and corresponding purified egl were investigated using. pha-induced lymphoproliferation assay. results: the results showed that although supernatants from purified 24 hours egl at 50% concentration tended to show increased immunosuppressive activity compared with the corresponding unfractionated cell suspension supernatants, the results did not reach significance.. conclusion: it seems egl can mediate immunosuppression activeity in human uterus, but whether this activity is crucial for survival of feto-placental unit real pregnancy is not cleare. more investigation in pathological pregnancy.