Isolation and culture of human endometrial glands.

A simple method for isolation of glands from human endometrium has been developed. The procedure involves collagenase digestion of the endometrial tissue and filtration through sieves of various pore sizes. Isolated glands retained on the sieves were washed and collected in culture dishes. Tubular organization of the isolated glands was ascertained by examination of the preparations under inverted microscope and light microscopy of stained sections. The appearance of the glands was found to reflect different functional states of the endometrium and, possibly, to reveal abnormalities. Growth of monolayers of epithelial cells derived from the glands was observed within 24 h of culturing. Electron microscopy of the cells in 7-day monolayer preparations from both proliferative and secretory endometrium revealed the characteristic features of human endometrial epithelial cells, viz. presence of microvilli and desmosome-like junctions. Nuclear bodies were observed in cells derived from both types of endometrium.