Studies on the trophoblast-epithelial complex during decidual induction in rats

Morphology of the endometrial microvasculature during early placentation in the rat

The morphology of the uterine microvasculature during early placentation was investigated by light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy of microvascular corrosion casts and transmission electron microscopy in rats 26 and 50 h after initiation of implantation. Increased vascular permeability at implantation sites was observed as a positive blue-dye test, spacing of vessels, and as localized extravasations of resin from postcapillary venules in the center of the endometrium. The subepithelial capillary plexus in the primary decidual zone adjacent to the blastocyst was shut down 50 h after initiation of implantation, most probably due to swelling of the metabolically activated endothelium and volume expansion of the decidual cells. This phenomenon coincided with the mesometrial orientation of the inner cell mass of the blastocyst; it may be a uterine mechanism to direct the ectoplacental cone toward the patent vessels in the mesometrial portion of the uterus. The remaining vessels at implantation sites were generally fewer, larger in diameter, more irregular in caliber, and more uniformly oriented along the implantation axis than their counterparts at inter-implantation sites. No vascular sprouts were observed during the interval studied.

Ultrastructural studies of the temporal relationship between loss of zona pellucida and appearance of blastocyst-induced stromal changes during normal pregnancy in rats

Ultrastructural studies were undertaken to investigate the temporal relationship between loss of the zona pellucida around the blastocyst and the appearance of decidual changes in the endometrial stroma during normal implantation in rats. Blastocyst-free and blastocyst-containing sites of pregnant uterine horns were studied and compared with control sites from contralateral salpingectomized horns and horns of pseudopregnant animals from 24.00 h on Day 4 and onwards. There were no membrane contacts between the blastocyst and the uterine epithelium at 10.00 h on Day 5 and earlier because of an intervening zona pellucida. From 14.00 h onwards, however, such contacts were present and at 18.00 h, the zona pellucida had disappeared and the blastocyst had attached onto the uterine epithelium. The stromal cells of pregnant and control horns were indistinguishable from each other at 24.00 h on Day 4, but from 06.00 h on Day 5 onwards specific changes were noted in the stromal cell nucleoli of the pregnant horns. The results therefore suggest that the first morphological sign of decidualization occurs about 12 h before the Pontamine Blue reaction and is initiated by the blastocyst early on Day 5 while it is still encased by the zona pellucida.

Scanning electron microscopy of the decidual stalk and decidua basalis in the mouse

Placentas either in situ or mechanically separated from their uterine beds were surveyed by scanning electron microscopy to determine the changing relationship of the placenta to its uterine bed with special reference to alteration in the decidual basalis accompanying parturition. At 13 days gestation the placenta is connected to the uterus by a short, broad decidual stalk which becomes longer and more constricted by term. The stalk is covered by a layer of squamous epithelium. Mechanical separation of the placenta and uterus in early gestation reveals that the entire decidual basalis of the decidual stalk is composed of large coarse fibers. As gestation progresses, a relatively smooth acellular capsule forms around the base of the placenta. However, the center of the decidua basalis, the core of the stalk, continues to be composed of large coarse fibers throughout gestation and appears to be the only region penetrated by maternal vessels.