The effect of intrauterine injection of concanavalin A on implantation in mice and rats.
Concanavalin A (Con A) binding sites are present on the surface of blastocysts. When Con A was injected into one uterine horn of the mouse on Day 3 or 5 of pregnancy at 50 or 100 micrograms/horn, or given to the rat on Day 6 or 7 at 200 micrograms/horn, implantation and pregnancy was not affected when compared to the contralateral horn treated with vehicle alone. However, when the same amount of Con A was administered to the mouse on Day 4 or to the rat on Day 5, implantation was significantly decreased, all accompanied by the incidence of deciduomata. The deciduogenicity of Con A is dose-dependent. Also Con A did not affect the development of mouse embryos as a normal number of blastocysts was recovered up to the time of implantation. Thus the inhibition of implantation by Con A could be due to (a) the earlier occurrence of decidual cell response and its subsequent interference with implantation and (b) the involvement of specific sugar groups in implantation.
D000818:Animals; D001755:Blastocyst / Q000187:drug effects; D002584:Cervix Uteri; D003208:Concanavalin A / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010064:Embryo Implantation / Q000187:drug effects*; D005260:Female; D007267:Injections; D051379:Mice; D009929:Organ Size; D011247:Pregnancy; D051381:Rats; D013997:Time Factors
D003208:Concanavalin A