Rat Decidual Cell Cultures

Pregnancy requires profound reorganization of the different tissues forming the uterus. Growth and differentiation of the uterine endometrial cells give rise to the decidual tissue, a transitory organ, which plays a key role in fetal survival. In this chapter, we describe a technique for the dispersion and the separation of the two different decidual cell sub-populations with high yield and viability. We also detail a cell culture method, which allows the maintenance of the function and life span of these highly purified decidual cells when cultured either separately or in a co-culture system.