title: Dating the endometrial biopsy by flow cytometry.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine endometrial changes throughout the menstrual cycle.
  
  
  METHODS
  Flow cytometric analysis of endometrial cells versus chronological dating.
  
  
  METHODS
  Women volunteers with a normal menstrual cycle participated in this study that was done in an academic research environment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred thirty regular menstruating women with adequate luteal phase underwent endometrial biopsy at different days of their menstrual cycle; 138 biopsies were analyzed both histologically and by flow cytometry.
  
  
  METHODS
  Percentage of biopsies correctly classified in terms of chronological dating.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Flow cytometry correctly classified the chronological day of biopsies in 59% of cases, the proliferative versus secretory days in 91% of cases, and the early, mid, and late secretory phases of the menstrual cycle were correctly predicted in 86% of cases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Flow cytometry is a good method to determine growth and differentiation of the endometrium during the menstrual cycle. Detection of phases of the whole endometrial cell population offer information on the biological adequacy of endometrial response to the biochemical environment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bulletti
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Galassi
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Parmeggiani
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Polli
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Alfieri
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Labate
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Flamigni
mesh_terms: D001706:Biopsy; D002455:Cell Division; D004717:Endometrium / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007986:Luteinizing Hormone / Q000378:metabolism; D008597:Menstrual Cycle; D012016:Reference Values
chemical_list: D007986:Luteinizing Hormone