Thrombin generation and presence of thrombin receptor in ovarian follicles.

Prothrombin, once converted to its enzymatically active form (i.e., thrombin), induces a broad spectrum of cellular responses in both vascular and avascular tissues.

Contributions from self-renewal and trafficking to the uterine NK cell population of early pregnancy.

Uterine NK (uNK) cells are abundant in human and murine uteri during decidualization. It is unclear whether precursors of uNK (pre-uNK) cells self-renew or are recruited from other sites. To assess self-renewal of pre-uNK cells, uterine segments from NK cell-competent mice were grafted orthotopically into NK/uNK cell-deficient or wild-type mice.