INTRODUCTION The first step in human implantation is the attraction of the blastocyst to the endometrium. We aimed to study attraction of the human blastocyst to the endometrium, and how this process is accomplished by chemokines secreted by the endometrium. MATERIALS AND METHODS Blastocyst trophectoderm cells and other trophoblast lineage cells were subjected to attraction assays by IP-10 an...

BACKGROUND Although several studies have suggested that CXCL12 and its receptor, CXCR4, may play a role in embryo implantation, there are limited reports of expression of CXCR4 and CXCL12 in human endometrium. The aim of this study was to investigate CXCL12 and CXCR4 expression in human endometrium and to see if CXCL12 could affect matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) production by endometrial stroma...

BACKGROUND Akt is activated by phosphorylation and plays an important role in cell survival and maintenance of structure. METHODS We investigated whether phosphorylated Akt was characteristically expressed in human endometrium in vivo and whether insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) can activate Akt using cultured decidualized human stromal cells in vitro, using immunohistochemistry and Weste...

or pieces of endometrium to the cheek pouch of hysterectomized animals significantly reduces the length of induced pseudopregnancy from 18 to 13\m=.\5 days (Caldwell, Mazer & Wright, 1967). These authors also reported that transplanting rat uteri to the cheek pouch also reduced pseudopregnancy in hysterectomized hamsters (14\m=.\8days), whereas the effects of transplanting rabbit uteri (15\m=.\...

BACKGROUND Although the immunocompetent cells of the adult human endometrium are well characterized, there is little information about these cells in the developing uterus. This study was undertaken to investigate the distribution of leukocyte subpopulations in the endometrium of fetuses and children. METHODS Uterine tissue obtained at autopsy from fetuses (n = 11) and neonates/children (n = ...

To date, research into the biological processes and molecular mechanisms associated with endometrial receptivity and embryo implantation has been a focus of attention, whereas the complex events that occur in the human endometrium during the menstrual and proliferative phase under the influence of estrogen have received little attention. The objective of this review is to provide an update of o...

CONTEXT Controlled ovarian stimulation induces morphological, biochemical, and functional genomic modifications of the human endometrium during the window of implantation. OBJECTIVE Our objective was to compare the gene expression profile of the human endometrium in natural vs. controlled ovarian stimulation cycles throughout the early-mid secretory transition using microarray technology. M...

Human mast cells (MCs) are long-lived tissue-resident immune Background: cells characterised by granules containing the proteases chymase and/or tryptase. Their phenotype is modulated by their tissue microenvironment. The human uterus has an outer muscular layer (the myometrium) surrounding the endometrium, both of which play an important role in supporting a pregnancy. The endometrium is a sex...

Human mast cells (MCs) are long-lived tissue-resident immune Background: cells characterised by granules containing the proteases chymase and/or tryptase. Their phenotype is modulated by their tissue microenvironment. The human uterus has an outer muscular layer (the myometrium) surrounding the endometrium, both of which play an important role in supporting a pregnancy. The endometrium is a sex...

The purpose of this study was to investigate changes in apoptosis-related proteins bcl-2 and bax on tumor infiltrating dendritic cells (TIDCs) in human endometrial cancer. Expression of bcl-2 and bax proteins in TIDCs of 52 patients with human endometrial cancer were studied by double-labeling immunehistochemistry and image analysis, respectively. 28 cases of normal endometria served as control...