Engineered reproductive tissues.

Engineered male and female biomimetic reproductive tissues are being developed as autonomous in vitro units or as integrated multi-organ in vitro systems to support germ cell and embryo function, and to display characteristic endocrine phenotypic patterns, such as the 28-day human ovulatory cycle. In this Review, we summarize how engineered reproductive tissues facilitate research in reproductive biology, and overview strategies for making engineered reproductive tissues that might eventually allow the restoration of reproductive capacity in patients.

Experimental study of the effect of diethylstilbestrol on the development of the human female reproductive tract.

Female genital tracts from human embryos and fetuses 5-17 weeks post fertilization were grown for 1-3 months in vivo as grafts to athymic female nude mice. The nude mice were either untreated or treated with diethylstilbestrol (DES). In control (untreated) hosts, anticipated normal development occurred with a high degree of precision. Müllerian ducts fused and proliferated, forming a solid uterovaginal canal that later canalized and formed a normal vaginal mucosa. Uterine glands appeared, and the uterine tube developed its highly plicated mucosa. Under the influence of DES, many of these normal developmental processes were adversely affected. Müllerian epithelium was largely obliterated in the fallopian tube and uterine corpus, mesenchymal stratification into endometrial stroma and myometrium was suppressed, plical development in the fallopian tube was inhibited, cervicovaginal epithelial development was abnormal, and vaginal adenosis was observed in several specimens. This in vivo model of human development is discussed in terms of its potential for resolving the mechanisms of normal human genital development and understanding the teratogenic action of DES on the developing human genital tract.

[Techniques of vascular microsurgery and gynaecology (author's transl)]. / Techniques de microchirurgie vasculaire et gynécologie.

Vascular microsurgery was applied late to gynaecology. The authors evaluate its use in transplantations of the uterus, the ovaries and the tubes and the experimental as well as the clinical angles. The vascular pedicles that can be used in women are studied from the anatomical point of view as well as the functional and technical angles in order that surgical protocols can be worked out logically for transplantation of the tubes and ovaries.

[Status of possibilities in the transplantation of female genitalia]. / Uber den Stand der Möglichkeiten der Organtransplantation des weiblichen Genitale

It is given a short report about the principles of the transplantation immunity and the mechanism of the organ transplant rejection. The possibilities to inhibit the transplant rejection (donor-host-selection, antigenicity of the transplant, unspecific and specific immunosuppression: immune tolerance, enhancement) are explained in detail. Finally the present status and the futuric possibilities to transplant the female genitale organs are estimated.