Demonstration of oestrogenic control of H-type-1 carbohydrate antigen in the murine endometrial epithelium by use of ICI 182,780.

The carbohydrate H-type-1 antigen has been implicated in attachment of the murine blastocyst to the endometrial epithelium. Monoclonal antibody 667/9E9 was used to investigate the steroidal dependency of expression of this antigen in the murine endometrial epithelium using intact or ovariectomized mice treated with oestrogen or the pure anti-oestrogen, ICI 182,780. The effects of this anti-oestrogen were also investigated in the endometrial epithelium from intact rats. In both ovariectomized, oestrogen-supplemented and intact mice after treatment with ICI 182,780, staining with monoclonal antibody 667/9E9 was abolished in the luminal epithelium on both the apical and lateral cell surfaces, whereas basal staining remained. Glandular staining in mice was not affected in the same manner. In intact rats, where H-type-1 antigen expression has been reported to be predominantly controlled by progesterone, the anti-oestrogen had little effect, in accordance with previous reports.