Localization of immunoglobulins in the mouse uterus, embryo, and placenta during the second half of pregnancy.

Throughout the second half of pregnancy in mice there were many plasma cells containing immunoglobulins A (IgA) and G (IgG) in the uterine endometrium. There was intense staining of IgA in uterine glands at all stages, but little staining of IgG. The staining of both immunoglobulins (Igs) in the luminal epithelium was moderate to dark on day 11, slight on day 14, and increased from day 16 to term. From day 14 to term the endometrium exhibited folds or villi around each placenta. The cores of the villi contained many plasma cells of both isotypes, and the staining of extracellular Igs in the villous cores was darker than in nonvillous endometrium. Both Igs were detected in the uterine lumen, and in visceral and parietal yolk sac endoderm cells at all stages. Near term, the staining of Igs in the visceral yolk sac was darkest in the peripheral villous portion adjacent to the endometrial villi. From day 14 to term IgG was present in the visceral yolk sac mesenchyme and embryo, consistent with its transfer from the uterine lumen to the embryo via the vitelline circulation. In contrast, IgA was not detected in yolk sac mesenchyme until day 19, when only slight staining was observed, and IgA was never detected in the embryo. Most trophoblast giant cells contained both Igs on day 11. During the remainder of pregnancy, there was staining of both Igs in labyrinthine trophoblast and in a few giant cells adjacent to the parietal yolk sac on the placenta, but there was negligible staining in the spongiotrophoblast region. Our observations suggest that the local immune system in the mouse uterus may protect the embryo during the second half of pregnancy by secreting anti-microbial immunoglobulins A and G into the uterine lumen surrounding the visceral yolk sac, and may at the same time contribute to the transfer of maternal IgG to the embryo via the yolk sac and vitelline circulation.