Estrogen receptor in deciduoma cells separated by velocity sedimentation.

Nuclear estrogen receptor levels were measured in fractions of dispersed deciduoma cells separated according to size by velocity sedimentation at unit gravity. Previous studies demonstrated that velocity sedimentation separated larger fully differentiated polyploid deciduoma cells from smaller diploid cells. Since levels of estrogen receptor measured in homogenates of deciduoma tissue decreased during the growth and differentiation of the deciduoma, lower levels of estrogen receptor per cell were anticipated in polyploid deciduoma cells. Although levels of estrogen receptor decreased slightly in all fractions of deciduoma cells from days 7-8 of pseudopregnancy, the larger polyploid cells had higher levels of estrogen receptor than smaller cells on both days. These results indicate that differentiation of endometrial stromal cells during decidualization involves a decrease in receptor levels in all deciduomal cell types rather than a specific decrease in the receptor levels of only fully differentiated deciduoma cells. (Endocrinology 108: 484, 1981)