Abstract
Abstract
To evaluate the possibility that uterine decidual reaction to the implanting blastocyst may cause a decrease in the luminal content of uteroglobin during pregnancy, experiments were designed to have unilateral pregnancy in the rabbit. The unilateral pregnancy was obtained by ligating one of the oviducts with silk sutures, with the opposite horn remaining intact for pregnancy. Since the horn with sutures did not become pregnant, it was designated as a pseudopregnant horn. The uteroglobin content and 3H-amino acid incorporation were determined in the pseudopregnant and pregnant horns on Days 5, 7, and 10 of pregnancy. Our results indicate that there was no significant difference in the concentration of uteroglobin and incorporation of 3H-amino acid into the uteroglobin between the pregnant and pseudopregnant horns on different days of pregnancy. These studies suggest that the rapid decline of the luminal uteroglobin content in pregnant rabbits compared to pseudopregnant or progesterone-treated ovariectomized rabbits is not influenced by the process of decidualization due to implantation in the uterus but most likely is due to humoral factor(s) associated with pregnancy.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.