A comparison of cytokine and hormone production by decidual cells and tissue explants

Previous work has shown that enzymatic digestion of human placental tissue can induce the production of the cytokine interleukin-1 beta. Most studies of the feto-maternal interface of human pregnancy have used decidual cells prepared in a similar way, but the effects of tissue dissociation on the production of growth factors, cytokines, prostaglandins or hormones have not been investigated. Our studies show human decidual explants produce substantially lower levels of a range of factors than do human decidual cells cultured under the same conditions, indicating that induction may be a general process during the dissociation of tissues in vitro as the production of interleukins-1 beta, -6 and -8, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, transforming growth factor-beta 2, tissue necrosis factor-alpha, prostaglandins E2 and F2 alpha, and prolactin were all affected. The induction of cytokine production (expressed per mg tissue protein) ranged from 10- to 300-fold, indicating that isolated cells cultured in vitro may not reflect accurately the in vivo situation.