Development and characterization of an endometrial tissue culture system.

A culture system has been developed for pieces of whole endometrium, comprising many different cell types. The system maintains the integrity of all compartments important for tissue function and allows functional studies of the human endometrium. Endometrial biopsy strips were collected from fertile women. The strips were cut into small pieces and cultured for 8 h on dishes pre-coated with Matrigel. The oxygen concentration was kept low (5%), since it was shown to be beneficial for the culture in preliminary studies. Scanning electron microscopy and immunohistochemical detection of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), oestrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha), progesterone receptor (PR) A + B and B and TUNEL were used to characterize the endometrium. During culture, the luminal and glandular epithelial cells began to cover the surface injured when cutting the sample, suggesting a healing process. The luminal epithelial surface appeared normal after culture. There was an increased sensitivity to culture after the implantation window. This new method for culture of endometrial strips in vitro has proven successful and may be used for functional studies of the human endometrium.