A simple suture intra-uterine device (IUD), occupying almost the entire length of the uterine horn, was used to study the effect of an IUD upon conception in the rabbit.After being mated, rabbits were killed at 84, 132, 156 and 180 hr and at 14 days. Additional animals were examined at 14 days after the IUD had been removed 84, 132 and 156 hr after mating.The IUD was not completely contraceptive, but it induced considerable pre-implantational embryonic death between 156 and 180 hr after mating.
SUMMARY
In the mouse, a unilateral intra-uterine device (IUD) exerted a bilateral contraceptive effect by causing the elimination of embryos from both uterine horns and the bilateral inhibition of the decidual cell reaction. Both uterine horns showed leucocytic infiltration into the endometrium and uterine lumen.
The bilateral effect was correlated with the existence of luminal continuity between the two uterine horns. Conception proceeded normally in the control uterine horn that had been completely separated from the IUD horn.
An IUD did not usually disturb the function of the Fallopian tube, but tube-locking of embryos occasionally occurred as an artifact. The contraceptive effects of an IUD were exerted within the uterus during the period immediately before implantation.
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