The production of leukaemia inhibitory factor by human endometrium: presence in uterine flushings and production by cells in culture |
| |
Authors: | Laird SM; Tuckerman EM; Dalton CF; Dunphy BC; Li TC; Zhang X |
| |
Affiliation: | Division of Biomedical Sciences/Health Research Institute, Sheffield Hallam University. |
| |
Abstract: | The concentration of leukaemia inhibitory factor (LIF) was measured in
uterine flushings obtained from normal fertile women, from women with
unexplained infertility and from women who suffered recurrent miscarriage.
In normal fertile women, LIF was not detected in flushings obtained on days
luteinizing hormone (LH)+0 to LH+6 of the cycle, but concentrations
gradually increased from day LH+7 to a maximum at day LH+12. The amount of
LIF in flushings obtained from women with unexplained infertility was
significantly lower than in those from normal fertile women on day LH+10 (P
< 0.05). The production of LIF by cultured human epithelial and stromal
cells was also investigated. LIF was not detectable in the supernatants of
cultured stromal cells. Basal LIF production by epithelial cells varied
according to the stage in the cycle at which the biopsy was taken.
Significantly more LIF was produced by epithelial cells from late
proliferative and early secretory endometrium compared with amounts
produced by cells from early proliferative (P < 0.001) and late
secretory (P < 0.01) endometrium. High doses of progesterone and
oestradiol caused a small decrease in epithelial cell LIF production: the
combined effect of progesterone and oestradiol (P < 0.01) was greater
than the effect of either steroid alone (P < 0.05). The results show,
for the first time, the capability of human endometrium to produce LIF in
vivo. The fact that maximum LIF concentrations are present at implantation
and that decreased concentrations occur in women with unexplained
infertility suggest the importance of this cytokine in embryo implantation.
|
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 Oxford 等数据库收录! |
|