Reproduction Abstracts

Introduction: Pro-inflammatory cytokines are important mediators of the early phases of gestation. Among all these cytokines, the macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) plays significant roles in pregnancy establishment. In many cell types, low concentrations of glucocorticoids (GCs) are known to enhance MIF secretion, but the effect of GCs on endometrial cells has not been elucidated. Bisphenol A (BPA) is an environmental chemical that can alter reproductive physiology ...

The increasing exposure to environmental chemicals is a burden for human reproduction, and can alter endometrial functions and maternal–embryo interactions. The available in vitro endometrial models often fail to represent the complexity of cellular environment, cells shape and organization, and could give misleading results on the effects of environmental chemicals. Here, a tissue-engineered (3D) decidua was used as a toxicological model. Human stromal cells wer...