The cellular pattern of corpus luteal growth during pregnancy in the rat

AbstractThe cellular pattern of corpus luteal (CL) growth was studied in rats at Days 6, 10, 12, 14, 16, 17 and 22 of pregnancy: term is Day 23. Measurements were taken of the percentage of the CL occupied by luteal cells, connective tissue and vascular space, luteal cell and nuclear volumes, and the number of luteal and endothelial cells in each of three CL in both ovaries of five rats at each stage of pregnancy. Total CL volume increased from 1.08‐3.23 μl over Days 10‐17. This was mainly due to an increase in luteal cell volume from 3.72 pl to 9.30 pl. Neither the number of luteal cells per CL (range 212,000‐287,000) nor the percentage of the CL occupied by luteal cells (range 85‐90%) had much influence on growth. Nuclear volume increased roughly in proportion to cytoplasmic volume but near term it decreased despite little change in cytoplasmic volume. The number of endothelial cells per CL increased steadily from 398,000 at Day 6 to 1,545,000 at Day 22. There was a strong negative correlation (r = −0.78) between the number of luteal cells per CL and mean luteal cell volume that was evident at all stages of pregnancy. There was a positive, but weaker correlation (r = 0.35) between number of luteal cells and CL volume. Thus, CL volume seems to be partly determined by the number of luteal cells at Day 6 but this effect is moderated by local control of luteal cell volume.