Morphometry of the functional and regressing corpus luteum of the guinea pig

✍ Scribed by Azmi, Tengku I. ;O'Shea, Jeremy D. ;Bruce, Neville W. ;Rodgers, Raymond J.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1984
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 699 KB
• Volume: 210
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0003-276X
• DOI: 10.1002/ar.1092100106

✦ Synopsis

A morphometric study of functional and regressing corpora lutea (CL) of guinea pigs (n = 5 per day) was performed on days 9, 12, and 16 of the estrous cycle. On day 9 the functional CL contained =750,000 cells, which included 565,200 _+ 56,700 (S.D.) endothelial cells or pericytes and 137,300 f 7,700 luteal cells. Between days 9 and 12 the only significant change suggesting the onset of regression was a reduction in vascular luminal surface area. During this time the number of luteal cells per CL increased to 204,400 t 34,800 (P < .05), with a n accompanying reduction in luteal cell volume from 19.8 _+ 1.8 to 14.4 k 2.4 pl/cell (P < .01). The increase in cell numbers was explicable by cell division, with mitotic indices of 0.83% and 0.97% on days 9 and 12, respectively. Luteal volume was unaltered. Between days 12 and 16, the mean volume of a single CL fell from 3.98 _+ 0.2 to 1.42 + 0.3 mm3 (P < .01) and luteal cell volume was reduced to 5.3 1.1 plhell ( P < .01). Between these 2 days the number of endothelial cells per CL fell from 539,900 _+ 75,500 to 144,400 & 63,300 (P < .Ol), with an accompanying reduction in vascular