Concanavalin A agglutinability and immunoadherent properties of rat blastocyst.

Preimplantation rat blastocysts were examined in vitro for concanavalin A agglutinability and antigenic properties on the 5th day of development after flushing and after 24 h in culture, following regional differentiation. Differences were found between the two trophoblastic cell populations with regard to cell membrane receptors to concanavalin A. Immunoadherence hemagglutination tests show that the early trophoblast possesses antigenic properties, which are similarly present in the mural and polar cells of the early preimplantation blastocyst. With later differentiation in vitro, differences can be found between the two trophoblastic cell populations with regard to detectable surface antigens.