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Updated: Jul 15, 2026
Isolation of Leukocytes from the Murine Tissues at the Maternal-Fetal Interface
Published on: May 21, 2015
Microenvironment of the feto-maternal interface protects the semiallogenic fetus through its immunomodulatory
Amir Hassan Zarnani1, Seyed Mohammad Moazzeni, Fazel Shokri
1Department of Immunology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modarres University, Tehran, Iran.
Objective:
To investigate the immunomodulatory activity of decidual culture supernatant on dendritic cell (DC) functions.
Design:
In vivo and in vitro experimental study using mice.
Setting:
Academic research laboratory.
Animal(S):
C57BL/6-mated female Balb/c mice.
Intervention(S):
Culture supernatants of decidual cells obtained from the uteri of allogenic pregnant mice (Balb/c x C57BL/6) were collected. Dendritic cells were purified from Balb/c mice spleens and pulsed with antigen during overnight culture. In some cultures, decidual supernatant was added at 5%, 10%, or 20% final concentration. Endometrial culture supernatant-treated DCs served as a control. Antigen-pulsed DCs were injected into the front footpads of syngeneic mice.
Main Outcome Measure(S):
Lymph nodes of primed mice were removed 5 days after DC injection. Antigen-specific proliferation and interleukin-10 and interferon gamma production by lymphocytes were measured by (3)H-Thymidine incorporation and ELISA, respectively.
Result(S):
The results showed that decidual culture supernatant markedly blocked in vivo antigen presentation by DCs and inhibited their capacity to induce interferon gamma (but not interleukin-10) production by primed lymphocytes.
Conclusion(S):
It seems that soluble factors produced by decidual cells are important mediators of immunoregulation at the feto-maternal interface, which provide the two fundamental requirements for protection of the semiallogenic fetus, namely immunologic tolerance and predominance of T helper 2 immunity, through modulation of DCs function.
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