Vascular response in a non-uterine site to implantation-stage embryos following interspecies transfers between the rat, mouse, and guinea-pig.

Pre-implantation-stage embryos from rats, mice, and guinea-pigs were transferred to a non-uterine site--the anterior chamber of the eye--of female recipients. All 9 combinations of transfers were performed: 3 allogeneic (intraspecies) transfers as controls, and 6 xenogeneic (interspecies) transfers. Implantation, as judged by extravasation from blood vessels of the iris or ciliary body occurred with success rates of 90.4% per transfer in the control rat group. 76.9% in the control mouse group, and 81.8% in the control guinea-pig group. Significantly reduced implantation rates occurred in the rat to guinea-pig (0%), mouse to rat (46.9%), mouse to guinea-pig (6.7%), and guinea-pig to rat (0%) groups compared to controls. Reductions, although not significant, also occurred in the other 2 groups: rat to mouse (77.8%), and guinea-pig to mouse (44.4%). These results together with some ultrastructural and light-microscopical observations suggest a degree of species specificity involved in the vascular response to the implanting embryo. We propose that the peri-implantation embryo produces a signal(s) which is to some extent species specific and which in the normal allogeneic situation is responsible for the early vascular effects seen at implantation in most eutherian mammals.