Morphometric and freeze fracture studies of human endometrium during the peri-implantation period

Abstract

This paper reviews recent morphological work on peri-implantation endometrium collected from the Monash University In vitro Fertilization (IVF) Programme. Comparisons of endometrial tissue collected from women who had undergone different superovulation regimens demonstrated that significant structural differences could be detected by morphometry and ultrasound, but not by routine histopathology. Morphometric studies on endometrium from agonadal women receiving hormone replacement therapy demonstrated major differences between women with identical endocrine profiles. A biopsy inadvertently taken from one of these patients at the time of implantation was not of the appearance classically believed to be associated with receptivity for implantation. Studies have shown that the tight junction structure of endometrial epithelium is regulated during the menstrual cycle, suggesting that the integrity of the epithelial barrier may be important in the preparation of the endometrium for implantation.