Morphology and morphometry of the rabbit uterus during pseudopregnancy.
Morphometry was carried out on the luminal epithelium of the rabbit uterus from oestrus to day 21 of pseudopregnancy. This indicated that syncytia increased in size until day 18, after which a rapid reduction occurred with approximate oestrous dimensions being restored on day 21. Involution of syncytia took place in two overlapping stages with reduction in nuclear numbers occurring from day 12 onwards, followed by loss of cytoplasm mainly after day 18. Ciliated cells predominated at oestrus and day 21 but were sparse at other times. When ciliated cells were plentiful, they were concentrated on the tops of the mucosal folds.
D000818:Animals; D004971:Estrus; D005260:Female; D011247:Pregnancy; D011555:Pseudopregnancy / Q000473:pathology*; D011817:Rabbits; D014599:Uterus / Q000473:pathology*