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Updated: Feb 11, 2026

Isolation of Human Endometrial Stromal Cells for In Vitro Decidualization
Published on: September 1, 2018
Nicotine and endometrial decidual growth in pseudopregnant rats
M T Siti Norashikin1, S Ghosh1, R Chatterjee1
1Faculty of Medicine Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Sungai Buloh Campus, Jalan Hospital 47000 Sungai Buloh Selangor Malaysia.
Purpose:
The present study aims to investigate the effects of nicotine on the endometrial decidual growth and levels of estrogen and progesterone in pseudopregnant rats.
Methods:
Pseudopregnancy (pc) was induced in cyclic Sprague-Dawley rats by sterile mating. Subcutaneous injection of nicotine tartrate (7.5 mg/kg/day) was scheduled from day 1 through day 5, day 5 through day 9 or day 1 through day 9 of pc. In another group of pseudopregnant rats, concomitant treatment of nicotine tartrate concurrently with progesterone (2 mg/day) was scheduled from day 1 through day 9 pc. Control groups received subcutaneous injections of vehicle only. Endometrial decidualization was induced on day 5 pc. On day 10 pc, animals were sacrificed.The degree of decidual growth and circulating levels of estrogen and progesterone were measured.
Results:
The decidual growth in all the first three nicotine-treated groups of animals was significantly reduced, particularly in the animals treated with nicotine from day 1 through day 9 pc. Plasma estrogen levels were significantly elevated in animals treated with nicotine from day 1 through day 9 pc. Conversely, levels of plasma progesterone were found to be significantly attenuated in the same group of nicotine-treated animals compared to controls. Exogenous replacement of progesterone, however, caused a higher degree of endometrial decidualization compared to the nicotine-treated group but it was slightly less than when compared to control.
Conclusions:
In conclusion, nicotine-induced progesterone deficiency with a corresponding elevation of estrogen may possibly attenuate the degree of endometrial decidualization in pseudopregnant rats.
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