Desmosomes are reduced in the mouse uterine luminal epithelium during the preimplantation period of pregnancy: a mechanism for facilitation of implantation.

Dynamic regulation of intercellular junctions is an essential aspect of many developmental, reproductive, and physiological processes. We have shown that expression of the desmosomal protein desmoplakin decreases in the luminal uterine epithelium during the preimplantation period of pregnancy in mice. By the time of implantation (between Days 4.

Demonstration of oestrogenic control of H-type-1 carbohydrate antigen in the murine endometrial epithelium by use of ICI 182,780.

The carbohydrate H-type-1 antigen has been implicated in attachment of the murine blastocyst to the endometrial epithelium. Monoclonal antibody 667/9E9 was used to investigate the steroidal dependency of expression of this antigen in the murine endometrial epithelium using intact or ovariectomized mice treated with oestrogen or the pure anti-oestrogen, ICI 182,780. The effects of this anti-oestrogen were also investigated in the endometrial epithelium from intact rats.

Decidual sialylation shows species-specific differences in the pregnant mouse and rat.

Biotinylated lectins from Sambucus nigra (SNA) and Maackia amurensis (MAA), which bind to alpha 2,6-linked and alpha 2,3-linked sialyl residues, respectively, were used as probes to study glycan terminal modifications associated with decidualization in the uterine stroma of pregnant rats and mice. Binding of lectins from Erythrina cristagalli (ECA), Phaseolus vulgaris (leukoagglutinin, L-PHA), Triticum vulgaris (WGA) and Bandeiraea simplicifolia (BSA-1B4) was also examined. Tissues from rats between day 5 and day 8 of gestation and mice between day 5 and day 7 of gestation were fixed in Bouin's solution and embedded in wax prior to lectin histochemistry.

Expression of carbohydrate antigens in the rat uterus during early pregnancy and after ovariectomy and steroid replacement.

Monoclonal antibodies were used to examine the expression of a number of carbohydrate antigens in the rat endometrial epithelium from day 1 to day 8 of pregnancy and in ovariectomized rats supplemented with ovarian steroids. Carbohydrate antigens based on the Gal beta 1-GlcNAc backbone structure were expressed and some of these (Le(y), Le(x), B antigen) were present at all stages of pregnancy and independent of ovarian steroids. The H-type-2 antigen was stimulated by progesterone and expressed in the sensitized and receptive uterus, but was not detected after implantation or, in ovariectomized rats, in the refractory phase.

Antigen-bearing dendritic cells in the draining lymph nodes of contact sensitized mice: cluster formation with lymphocytes.

Following topical exposure to skin-sensitizing chemicals, Langerhans' cells, a significant proportion of which bear antigen, are induced to migrate from the epidermis to the regional lymph node. There is evidence that the antigen-bearing cells which arrive in the draining lymph nodes have the functional characteristics of mature dendritic cells (DC) and efficiently induce T-lymphocyte activation in vitro and contact sensitization in vivo. In contrast, freshly isolated Langerhans' cells are known to be relatively inefficient antigen-presenting cells.