Effect of ageing on in vitro endometrial stromal cell differentiation

Reproductive ageing in the human female is indicated by a decline in fertil ity. In addition to the decline in oocyte quality, uterine factors which in volve both hormonal and stromal-epithelial interactions have vital importan ce in reduced implantation with ageing. The decidual cells, which have a ma jor role in implantation, are formed by the differentiation of stromal cell s. The aim of this study was to analyse the effect of ageing on the decidua lization capacity of stroma cells. For this purpose we cultured isolated st romal cells from young (age: 38-42 years) and old (age: 46-52 years) patien ts in the presence of progesterone, in which they undergo decidual reaction . Secreted prolactin was measured in the spent medium. The mean prolactin a mounts were 0.74 +/- 0.09 ng/mu DNA day and 0.79 +/- 0.03 ng/mu DNA day in young and aged groups respectively. The difference was statistically insign ificant. We conclude that other cellular and molecular mechanisms must be c onsidered for the role of the uterine factors. Med Sci Res 27:817-820 (C) 1 999 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.