title: Immunohistochemical localization of IL-1 alpha and IL-1 beta in normal human placenta.
abstract: Many reports show that interleukin 1 (IL-1) is produced by mouse and human placenta but the cell type that is responsible for this production has yet to be identified. For this reason we attempted to localize IL-1 alpha and IL-1 beta directly on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded normal human placentae at different stages of pregnancy using immunohistochemical techniques and specific antibodies. The results obtained show that both IL-1 forms are localized to villous syncytiotrophoblast and to extravillous trophoblast, while villous cytotrophoblast and cytotrophoblast columns are unreactive. A gradual decrease of reactivity was observed with increasing gestation age for both IL-1 forms, but the staining for IL-1 beta was in all sections higher than for IL-1 alpha. Although the physiological role of IL-1 in pregnancy has yet to be established, the presence of this cytokine in the cells facing maternal blood and tissues suggests a possible involvement in the immunoregulation of fetal acceptance.
authors.affiliation: Institute of General Physiology, University of Siena, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Paulesu
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: King
authors.forename: Y W
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Loke
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cintorino
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bellizzi
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Boraschi
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D007375:Interleukin-1 / Q000032:analysis*; D010920:Placenta / Q000737:chemistry*; D011247:Pregnancy; D012016:Reference Values
chemical_list: D007375:Interleukin-1