Murine granulated metrial gland cell population in beige (bg/bg) and SCID (scid/scid) genotypes.

Morphology of granulated metrial gland (GMG) cell, a uterine natural killer (NK) cell, was reported to be normal in pregnant uteri of NK cell-deficient mice and T-cell- and B-cell-deficient mice, but little is known about the number of GMG cells. To determine whether the number of GMG cells is influenced by such mutations, their number in the bg mice (genotype C57BL/6J-bg/bg) and SCID mice (genotype C.B-17/Icr-scid/scid) was compared to that of control mice on day 12 of gestation. GMG cells in these mutant mice were normal in number. Thus, the present results support the previous reports that GMG cells can differentiate normally in bg mice and that the GMG cell differentiation is not affected by functional T- nor B-cells.