Production of prolactin by cultures of cells from human decidua.

Human decidual tissue has been reported to secrete human PRL in vitro. Decidual scraped from fetal membranes delivered at term was treated with collagenase, and cultures of the dispersed cells were examined 7 days after plating. These cultures were fibroblastic in appearance and secreted insignificant amounts of PRL to the medium (less than 12 ng/ml). However, PRL-producing cells could be selected by taking advantage of the slowness of their attachment to the plastic dishes. Cultures of cells that did not attach during the first 48 h after cell dispersion produced, after attachment, about 100 micrograms PRL/mg DNA in 2 days. This rate is much higher than rates observed during batch incubations or superfusions of minced decidual preparations (approximately 0.2-0.3 micrograms PRL/mg DNA.day). PRL production rates declined after the seventh day of culture, probably as a consequence of overgrowth of cells that did not secrete PRL. Cultures enriched in PRL-secreting cells may be used to study the regulation of decidual production of PRL and other biochemical processes of the endometrium affected by decidualization.