Endometrial Explant Culture to Study the Response of Equine Endometrium to Insemination |
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| Authors: | DM Nash IM Sheldon S Herath EA Lane |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Veterinary Clinical Studies, The Royal Veterinary College, North Mymms, UK;2. Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, UK;3. The Centre for Veterinary Epidemiology and Risk Analysis, Veterinary Science Centre, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland |
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| Abstract: | Mating‐induced endometritis (MIE) is ubiquitous in the horse after natural mating and artificial insemination with frozen/thawed semen causing the most aggressive response. The majority of mares eliminate MIE 24–48 h after insemination. An endometrial explant culture was tested as a potential in vitro exemplar for sperm‐induced MIE. Endometrial prostaglandin F2α (PGF2α) secretion and expression of interleukin‐8 (IL‐8) were used as markers of inflammation. Endometrial explants were cultured from uteri collected from follicular phase mares. Explants were challenged with 1 or 10 × 106 sperm/ml frozen/thawed semen, chilled semen, washed sperm or seminal plasma. Medium was collected 24 and 72 h after challenge and assayed for PGF2α by radioimmunoassay. Treatment of endometrial explants with frozen/thawed, chilled semen or washed sperm did not change the secretion of PGF2α compared with untreated controls. However, 24 h after challenge cultured explants expressed IL‐8. The in vitro endometrial explant system did not represent the in vivo response to semen when PGF2α was used as a marker of inflammation, yet the use of gene expression as an inflammatory marker warrants further investigation. |
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