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Human Reproduction Update Advance Access originally published online on November 8, 2008
Human Reproduction Update 2009 15(2):229-236; doi:10.1093/humupd/dmn052
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Pinopodes: a questionable role in endometrial receptivity

C.E. Quinn1 and R.F. Casper1,2,3

1 Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada M5G 1X5 2 Toronto Center for Advanced Reproductive Technology (TCART), Toronto, ON, Canada M5S 2X9

3 Correspondence address. 150 Bloor St W, Suite 210, Toronto, ON, Canada M5S 2X9. Tel: +1-416-972-0777; Fax: +1-416-972-0036; E-mail: rfcasper{at}aol.com

BACKGROUND: A better understanding of endometrial receptivity is crucial to the creation and optimization of tests to assess the window of implantation in a clinical setting. Testing endometrial receptivity via scanning electron microscopy of endometrial samples reveals that pinopodes are a very good marker of endometrial receptivity in the rat. There is still disagreement in the literature as to their usefulness as a receptivity marker in both mice and humans.

METHODS: Publications related to the discovery, study and usefulness of pinopodes as a marker of endometrial preparation for implantation in both rodents and humans were identified through MEDLINE and other bibliographic databases.

RESULTS: There is substantial evidence that pinopodes are good markers of endometrial receptivity in the rat. Pinopodes are not useful in the mouse or human as consistent markers of endometrial receptivity for implantation. In the human, pinopodes have a prolonged (>5 days) presence in the luteal phase and fail to delineate the brief (24–48 h) window of receptivity.

CONCLUSIONS: While there are many publications arising from one group supporting the use of pinopodes as a reliable marker of human endometrial receptivity, few independent groups have been able to confirm these results. The clinical usefulness of pinopodes to delineate a period of endometrial receptivity seems unlikely following recent findings that pinopodes are present throughout the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle.

Received on September 27, 2008; revised August 28, 2008; accepted on September 22, 2008


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