Abstract
The decidual cells in the pseudopregnant rat uterus undergo many of the structural and functional changes exhibited by endometrial cells in normal pregnancy. Thus the decidual reaction in pseudopregnancy has been studied as a model of the implantation process. The proliferation and differentiation of stromal fibroblasts into deciduomal cells require both estrogen and progestin in addition to some kind of trauma to the endometrium to initiate the decidual reaction. The trauma may be a needle scratch, a thread tied through the endometrium, or the transcervical intralumenal instillation of olive oil. The deciduomal tissue of pseudopregnant rats contains high-affinity, low-capacity receptor proteins specific for estrogens (Talley et al. 1977) and other receptor proteins specific for progesterone (Armstrong et al., 1977). The binding of the steroid to the receptor proteins is believed to be an obligatory first step in the action of steroid hormones. Estrogen receptors have been demonstrated in the cytosol (Mester et al., 1974) and in the nucleus (Martel and Psychoyos, 1976) of the endometrium during pregnancy.
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© 1981 Plenum Press, New York
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Villee, C.A., Armstrong, E.G., Talley, D.J., Hoshiai, H. (1981). Decidual Cell Function Role of Steroid Hormones and Their Receptors. In: Glasser, S.R., Bullock, D.W. (eds) Cellular and Molecular Aspects of Implantation. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-3180-3_17
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-3180-3_17
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