Development of the endometrium during the estrous cycle in the bitch

The endometrium of 40 cycling bitches was studied using cytological, cytochemical, and morphometric techniques. Two principal phases of growth and differentiation can be discerned. Phase one begins at the end of anestrus as serum estrogen levels begin to rise and is completed just prior to estrus. It is characterized by growth of the crypts and differentiation of the glandular epithelial cells into well-developed, mucus-secreting cells. Growth, initially rapid, gradually slows. The second growth phase does not begin until the middle of estrus as serum progestin levels rise and lasts nearly a week. Both hypertrophy and hyperplasia of the glandular epithelium and growth of the basal glands characterize this stage. The gland cells develop many well-defined characteristics of absorptive and secretory cells. Another phase of growth occurs in pregnant animals at the onset of implantation. During the third week of metestrus in non-pregnant bitches, the uterus begins to involute. Acid phosphatase and the number of lysosomes increase dramatically in the epithelial cells particularly in the basal glands. Cells lining the lumen and crypts accumulate numerous large lipid droplets. The data are discussed in relation to the clear separation of two distinct uterine functions: (1) sperm transport and maintenance and (2) production and secretion of nutritive uterine milk. Extended periods of follicular development, breeding, and preimplantation in the bitch probably impose this separation.