A sustained decrease in serum CD83 in pregnant women.

Maternal immunity regulates tolerance to the semi-allogeneic fetus during pregnancy via modulation of immune regulatory factors. The serum factor CD83 is known to undergo changes during gestation in mice. Here we characterize serum levels of CD83 in women for the first time, revealing a consistent decline as pregnancy progresses and recovery to non-pregnant levels in miscarriage.

Placentа of BCG-Vaccinated Women in early Pregnancy is Colonized with Non-Immunogenic Mycobacterial L-forms.

Problem: Long-lived mycobacterial L-forms (mL-forms) could be detected in the blood of BCG-vaccinated people. We have previously found mL-forms in term placentas and blood of neonates, delivered by healthy BCG-vaccinated mothers as first formal demonstration that BCG vaccination in the childhood of the woman could affect her placentobiome during pregnancy. Of note, the isolated mL-forms reverted to the cell-walled state of the parental BCG bacilli in vitro.

Human decidual gamma/delta T cells possess unique effector and TCR repertoire profiles during pregnancy.

Human γδ T cells are enriched at the maternal-fetal interface (MFI, decidua basalis) showing a highly differentiated phenotype. However, their functional potential is not well-known and it is not clear whether this decidua-enrichment is associated with specific γδ T cell receptors (TCR) as is observed in mice. Here we addressed these open questions by investigating decidual γδ T cells during early and late gestation, in comparison with paired blood samples, with flow cytometry (cytotoxic mediators, cytokines) and TCR high-throughput sequencing.

Functional HLA-C expressing trophoblast spheroids as a model to study placental-maternal immune interactions during human implantation.

In healthy couples over half of the conceptions result in failed pregnancy and around 30% of them occur during implantation defining it as a rate-limiting step for the success of native and in vitro fertilization. The understanding of the factors regulating each step of implantation and immune recognition is critical for the pregnancy outcome. Creation of 3D-cell culture models, such as spheroids and organoids, is in the focus of placental tissue engineering in attempt to resemble the in vivo complexity of the maternal-fetal interface and to overcome the need of laboratory animals and human embryos.

Mother-to-newborn transmission of mycobacterial L-forms and Vδ2 T-cell response in placentobiome of BCG-vaccinated pregnant women.

The ability of bacteria to exist as a population of self-replicating forms with defective or entirely missing cell wall (L-forms) is an adaptive mechanism for their survival and reproduction under unfavorable conditions. Bacterial mother-to-fetus transfer is a universal phenomenon in the animal kingdom. However, data about vertical transfer of L bacterial forms are extremely scarce.

Electrophoretic and immunocytochemical analysis of Hsp72 and Hsp73 expression in heat-stressed mouse testis and epididymis.

Objective: One of the most profound events in stressed cells is the synthesis of a highly conserved family of proteins, the 'heat shock proteins' (Hsp). The Hsp70 family is the most diverse, and includes constitutive as well as stress-inducible proteins with overlapping or unique functions in different cell compartments. Elucidation of Hsp70 expression during different stages of spermatogenesis and maturation of germ cells is of particular interest due to their high sensitivity to heat treatment.

Assessment of presence and characteristics of multipotent stromal cells in human endometrium and decidua.

This review discusses the presence and characteristics of multipotent stromal cells in human endometrium and decidua. A number of research groups have reported the isolation and characterization of multipotent stromal cells from the basal layer of the endometrium, and in a single case just from the menstrual blood, i.e.

Superficial implantation in pigs is associated with decreased numbers and redistribution of endometrial NK-cell populations.

Problem: We evaluated implantation-associated quantitative changes in endometrial and peripheral natural killer (NK)-cell populations of pigs.

Method Of Study: Natural killer cell populations were investigated in 10, 15, 20, 30 and 40 days pregnant and non-pregnant (NP) sows by flow cytometry, immunohistochemistry and morphometry.

Results: The number of endometrial CD16(+) NK cells significantly declined at attachment phase of implantation and remained relatively low over the course of implantation.

Expression of alpha5beta1 integrin and fibronectin during early pregnancy in pigs.

The implantation in pig is superficial and non-invasive, involving phases of apposition, adhesion and attachment of conceptuses to endometrial surface epithelium. The role of integrins and ECM proteins is suggested. In the study, the expression of beta5beta1 integrin and FN on conceptus trophectoderm and endometrium during implantation and early pregnancy was investigated.