Novel insights into human endometrial paracrinology and embryo-maternal communication by intrauterine microdialysis

Is human chorionic gonadotropin directly involved in the regulation of human implantation?

“…The majority of data available today is therefore derived from experiments with animals and may not apply completely to the human system. To overcome these problems, our laboratory has recently developed an intrauterine microdialysis device (IUMD) for the dynamic assessment of endometrial parakrine mediators in the human female in vivo (Licht et al 1998;Licht et al 2001). Using this system, we have been able to measure the intrauterine concentrations of several mediators of interest as well as to simulate the parakrine milieu of a very early pregnancy in the uterine cavity by the application of low concentrations of urinary hCG via the IUMD and measuring the response of the endometrium.…”

“…As compared to other tissues, the microdialysis device can be inserted with little invasive measures and membranes with a large surface can be introduced. Therefore, recovery rates between 5% and 20% of the actual concentrations in utero can be achieved depending on the molecular weight of the substance of interest (Licht et al 1998;Licht et al 2001). These recovery rates are significantly higher than those reported from other microdialysis systems probably because of the larger surface and allow a fairly accurate estimation of actual intrauterine concentrations.…”

“…The effluent was collected in hourly intervals (1.8 ml) and frozen immediately at -80°C. The samples were analyzed by commercially available immunoassays (Licht et al 1998;Licht et al 2001). …”

“…human chorionic gonadotropin, hCG) as well as of pharmacological interventions on endometrial differentiation and function (Licht et al 1998;Licht et al 2001) Using this system, we have investigated the effects of hCG on several parakrine parameters relevant in the endometrium. As hCG is one of the first embryonal signals sent to the maternal endometrium, it is of great interest to investigate possible effects of this hormone on the endometrial milieu.…”

Effect of Intrauterine Injection of Human Chorionic Gonadotropin Before Frozen-Thawed Embryo Transfer on Implantation and Clinical Pregnancy Rate: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…On the other hand, increasing leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) and VEGF (as potent pro-angiogenic factors) and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) leads to improved implantation conditions (4). A study by Mansour et al, conducted on patients with the first ICSI/ IVF cycle and fresh embryos showed improvement in implantation and pregnancy rates due to intrauterine injection of 500 IU of hCG before embryo transfer (2).…”