Implantation in vitro: co-culture of rat blastocyst and epithelial cell vesicles

Implantation of blastocysts involves conversion of maternal and embryonic cell surfaces from a nonadhesive to an adhesive state in response to the internally driven developmental program or to externally generated factors. However, the intricacies of the cellular and subcellular changes that promote the attachment are not known, because these changes are difficult to determine in situ because of the nonaccessibility of the site. To overcome this, an in vitro model of implantation was developed by co-culturing rat blastocysts and uterine epithelial cells of the same gestational age (day 5 postcoitum; plug day as day 1) in drops hanging from the lid of a Petri dish. The system was used to study the changes on the surface membranes of the cells of the trophectoderm and uterine epithelium and to evaluate the antiadhesive activity of the newly designed test substances. The isolated epithelial cell vesicles were co-cultured with zona-free blastocysts in the microdrops (40-50 microl) hanging from the lid of a 60-mm Petri dish. The lid was placed over the lower dish, which was presaturated with the medium. The culture was examined 48 h later to determine the site of adhesion of epithelial cell vesicles with the trophoblasts lining the blastocyst. The cell-cell adhesion was monitored on a computerized image analyzer. To validate the adhesion of blastocysts and epithelial cell vesicles in co-culture, the expression of a cell adhesion molecule, uvomorulin, was studied using immunocytochemical technique after incubating with antiuvomorulin antibody. Intense staining was noted on the membrane surfaces at the site of attachment of the blastocyst and cell vesicles.