Reproduction Abstracts

Introduction: Decidualisation of the endometrium is the differentiation of uterine stromal cells into specialised secretory decidual stromal cells (DSC) primed for pregnancy. If pregnancy occurs, DSC control and regulate fetal trophoblast invasion. Pre-eclampsia is a disorder associated with inadequate trophoblast invasion and spiral artery (SA) remodelling. Uterine artery Doppler resistance index (RI) in the first trimester of pregnancy measures the extent of SA remodelling; pregnancies either have a high (high RI) or normal (normal RI) risk of poor SA remodelling. The phenotype of DSC with a high or normal uterine artery RI and their effect on trophoblast function was investigated.

Materials and methods: DSC were isolated from first trimester terminations of pregnancy screened by uterine artery Doppler ultrasound. DSC were decidualised in vitro using cAMP and medroxyprogesterone 17-acetate (MPA); secretion of IGFBP1, PRL and FOXO1 were measured by ELISA and western blot. The trophoblast cell line SGHPL-4 was incubated with DSC conditioned media (CM) and chemotaxis and motility were measured.

Results and discussion: Decidualisation of DSC increased secretion of IGFBP1, PRL and FOXO1 (P<0.05). Decidualised DSC CM from pregnancies <10 weeks gestation that have a normal RI significantly stimulated trophoblast chemotaxis (P<0.05) compared to pregnancies >10 weeks gestation. DSC CM from pregnancies with high RI had no effect on trophoblast chemotaxis. DSC CM had no effect on trophoblast motility.