Study on the endometrial dendritic cells populations during the normal menstrual cycle / 重庆医学

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the number and distribution of dendritic cells in normal endometrium of reproductive age during the normal menstrual cycle .Methods Normal endometrial samples were collected from 40 women of reproductive age . 20 endometrium samples at the proliferative phase (day 6th to 10th) and 20 endometrium samples at the window of implantation(day 20th to 24th) were obtained .These patients underwent intrauterine exploration before IVF and ET resulting from tubal resec-tion or male factor infertility .Endometrial tissue was collected with a pipelle aspirator .Sections were stained with hematoxylin-eosin (HE) to identify the morphological characteristics of endometrial tissues .The Envision two-step immunohistochemical staining technique was used to detect the expression of CD1a and CD83 in the endometrium .Normal human skin and tonsil were used as pos-itive control tissues for CD1a and CD83 ,respectively .The serum levels of ovarian steroid hormones were measured to analyze their relationship with the expression of CD1a and CD83 .Results CD1a + DCs were found in all samples of window of implantationand most samples of the proliferative phase (18/20 ,90% ) .DCs showed irregular shape with different processes and were buffy in cell membrane ,mainly in stroma around grand and blood vessels .The density of CD1a + DCs at the window of implantation were (18 .2 ± 5 .76)cells/mm2 ,significantly higher than that at the proliferative phase [(6 .5 ± 4 .05)cells/mm2 ,P 0 .05) .Conclusion Increased CD1a+ immature DCs at the window of implantation in endometri-um may play an important role in the establishment of maternal-fetal tolerance .