Observations on the behavior of human endometrial cells in tissue culture

Abstract

T HE investigations, a brief account of which is presented here, were initiated about three and one-half years ago. They were motivated by the wish to obtain more information on the normal and malignant cytology of the human endometrium and its rather unique potentialities for proliferation. growth, and differentiation. One might indeed expect to find these qualities highly accentuated in an organ subjected to such severe losses of tissue as those occurring periodically in the endometrium t,hroughout the entire reproductive life of a woman. Because of its ever-changing character and its many important functions, the endometrium presents a variet.y of interesting problems for study. One* of these is related to an observation made in our laboratory about four years ago, that of a rat,her specific morphologic process consisting of a mass production of phagocytic elements through the differentiation of cells exfoliating from the endometrial mucosa.l Its occurrence toward the end’of the menstrual bleeding and the beginning of the proliferative phase is so timed as tc, serve the purpose of contributing to the cleansing of the uterine cavity from the menstrual detritus. It was hoped that corroborating evidence of this phenomenon might be obtained through the study of endometrial tissue in vitro.