The influence of chlorambucil on IUD-induced uterine neutrophils

Abstract

The present investigation was designed to study the effect of chlorambucil on IUD-induced uterine neutrophils on day five of gestation and the number of implantation sites on day 10 of pregnancy in order to get a better understanding of the relationship between uterine neutrophils and implantation in IUD animals. A silk IUD (No. 3-0) was placed in one uterine horn of adult Holtzman rats, and they were divided into groups according to treatment. In group I the animals received chlorambucil for five consecutive days and were autopsied on the fifth day of treatment. In group II the rats were treated in a similar manner but were mated the day following the last drug treatment and killed on the fifth and 10th days of gestation. The control rats in groups III and IV were treated as in the previous groups except that the vehicle was administered instead of the drug. Regardless of treatment, no implantation sites were observed in the IUD horns but they were present in the control horns. On the fifth day of gestation in the chlorambucil-treated rats, the number of neutrophils was significantly greater than at the end of the five-day drug treatment. The observations show that chlorambucil is not effective in maintaining the suppression of neutrophils throughout the preimplantation period. The data add further support to the concept that neutrophils have a major role in suppressing implantation in the IUD uterine horns.