A COMPARISON OF CYTOKINE AND HORMONE PRODUCTION BY DECIDUAL CELLS ANDTISSUE EXPLANTS

Previous work has shown that enzymatic digestion of human placental ti ssue can induce the production of the cytokine interleukin-1 beta. Mos t studies of the feto-maternal interface of human pregnancy have used decidual cells prepared in a similar wry, but the effects of tissue di ssociation on the production of growth factors, cytokines, prostagland ins or hormones have not been investigated. Our studies show human dec idual explants produce substantially lower levels of a range of factor s than do human decidual cells cultured under the same conditions, ind icating that induction may be a general process during the dissociatio n of tissues in vitro as the production of interleukins-1 beta, -6 and -8, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, transforming gr owth factor-beta 2, tissue necrosis factor-alpha, prostaglandins E(2) and F-2 alpha, and prolactin were all affected. The induction of cytok ine production (expressed per mg tissue protein) ranged from 10- to 30 0-fold, indicating that isolated cells cultured in vitro may not refle ct accurately the in vivo situation.