Using a retrospective analysis, we compared cumulative pregnancy rates, early pregnancy failure rates and multiple pregnancy rates in couples with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) (n = 148), hypogonadotrophic or eugonadotrophic hypogonadism (n = 91) and unexplained infertility (n = 117), who were treated in an ovulation induction clinic between January 1991 and December 1995. The women were treated with either human menopausal gonadotrophin (HMG) or purified follicle stimulating hormone (FSH). The cumulative pregnancy rate (derived from life-table analysis) after four ovulatory treatment cycles was 70% in the PCOS group, 74% in the hypogonadism group and 38% in the unexplained infertility group. The cumulative pregnancy rate in the unexplained infertility group was significantly lower than the other groups (P < 0.001) but there was no significant difference between PCOS and hypogonadism using the log rank test. The early pregnancy failure rate was 25% in the PCOS group, 27% in the hypogonadism group and 26% in the unexplained infertility group (chi(2) = 0.132, not significant). The multiple pregnancy rate was 20% in the PCOS group, 30% in the hypogonadism group and 17% in the unexplained infertility group (chi(2) = 2.105, not significant). Treatment of anovulatory infertility using HMG or FSH is effective irrespective of the cause. Couples with unexplained infertility are less successfully treated using HMG: correction of unexplained infertility may involve more than simple correction of possible subtle ovulatory defects.

As part of a study to identify the characteristics of cord blood cells, we examined their morphological features by electron microscopy. Additionally, we cultured CD34-positive cells derived from cord blood and from bone marrow to perform morphological observations, as well as cytochemical examinations following the peroxidase reaction. Compared with normal peripheral blood cells, cord blood cells frequently showed immature morphology and a unique ultrastructure, such as nuclear pockets in neutrophils, several crystalloids in a single eosinophilic granule, and deformed nuclei in lymphocytes. In contrast to bone marrow cells, cord blood cells yielded a large number of cells of immature myelo-monocytic lineages in cell culture, and demonstrated a weaker peroxidase reaction. We identified that cord blood cells were different from normal peripheral blood cells and bone marrow cells, confirming the functional differences that were previously assumed.

Prolactin (PRL) is known as an anterior pituitary hormone. On the other hand, PRL is also produced in the human decidualized endometrium. The physiological role and site of action of endometrial PRL have not yet been clarified. This study was designed to investigate the localization of PRL receptor (PRL-R) gene-expressing cells in the human decidualized endometrium using in situ hybridization histochemistry. Sense and antisense 35S-labeled RNA probes for human PRL-R mRNA were hybridized with cryostat sections of human decidua, which were obtained from patients undergoing therapeutic abortion at 8-10 weeks of gestation. Hybridization signals for PRL-R mRNA were seen over the decidual cells. No labeled cells were seen in the chorion, amnion, or trophoblast. Comparing the localization of PRL-R gene-expressing cells to that of PRL gene-expressing cells using adjacent sections, their distributions were quite similar. These results indicate that not only PRL but also PRL-R transcripts are located in the decidual cells.

Polysaccharides of glycogen class were histochemically synthesized from glucose-1-phosphate at pH 5.7 in various blood and bone marrow cells except the crythrocytic series. The intense activity of phosphorylase was indicated blue with iodine which stained a long straight chain of 1,4-linkages, while the branching enzyme (amylo-1,4 → 1,6-transglucosidase) activity was indicated red violet by staining shorter chains of a branched polysaccharide. These reactions appeared most frequently in neutrophilic, pseudoeosinophilic or amphophil series, particularly in the mature cells of the series. The histochemical synthesis of glycogen from glucose-1-phosphate in neutrophil leucocytes in the peripheral blood varies under pathologic conditions.

Prolactin (PRL) is known to be expressed in the decidualized human endometrium and secreted into amniotic fluid. Although the site of synthesis of endometrial PRL is known to be the decidual cells, the difference in PRL gene expression within each area of decidua, i.e. decidua basalis, decidua parietalis and decidua capsularis, during pregnancy is not clear. We have applied an in situ hybridization histochemistry technique using a radiolabeled RNA probe to compare the difference in expression of PRL gene within each area of the decidualized endometrium. Specific hybridization signals were distributed over the decidual cells in early and term pregnancy. More intense hybridization signals were always detected in the tissues of early pregnancy than in those of term pregnancy. In the decidua capsularis of early pregnancy, labeled cells were concentrated close to the amniotic cavity, whereas cells were concentrated close to the maternal surface of the fetal membrane in term pregnancy. In the decidua parietalis, almost all decidual cells were labeled, but no specific labeling was seen in the endometrial glands or capillary endothelium in both groups. In the decidua basalis, most decidual cells showed hybridization signals whereas no hybridization signal was seen over the trophoblast cells. These results show that there are regional and periodic differences in PRL gene expression in the decidual cells during pregnancy.