Morphometric analysis of the uterine endometrium of swine on days 12 and 16 postestrus

The uterine endometrium of swine is comprised of luminal epithelial, glandular epithelial, and stromal cells that secrete the luteolysin, prostaglandin F-2alpha (PGF(2alpha)), during late diestrus. However, which of these cells contribute the most to luteolytic PGF(2alpha) secretion is unknown because the cellular composition of the endometrium has not been quantified. Therefore, this study quantified the cellular composition of the endometrium on days 12 and 16 postestrus by histologic and morphometric analyses. On day 12, the endometrium consisted predominantly of stromal cells (47% of total cell quantity) and glandular epithelial cells (37%), whereas luminal epithelial cells represented only 16% of the total of the three cell types. The number of glandular epithelial cells tended to increase (P < 0.10) between days 12 and 16, such that they comprised 45% of the endometrium by day 16, while the number of stromal and luminal cells did not change and accounted for 45% and 10% of the cells, respectively. Luminal epithelial cells had a 58% greater cross-sectional area (P < 0.001) than glandular epithelial cells, whereas glandular epithelial cells had a 22% greater area (P < 0.001) than stromal cells. Glandular epithelial cells decreased (P < 0.001) in cross-sectional area between days 12 and 16, whereas the area of luminal epithelial and stromal cells remained unchanged. These results indicate that the porcine endometrium is comprised predominantly of stromal and glandular epithelial cells that are likely to contribute substantially to endometrial PGF(2alpha) secretion during luteolysis. The contribution of glandular epithelium to luteolytic PGF(2alpha) secretion probably increases during diestrus as the number of these cells increases. (C) 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.