Fig. 1.

Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) reduces T-bet expression and proinflammatory mediators in an in-vitro model of trophoblast and maternal–leucocyte interaction. Swan 71 cell line was co-cultured with maternal–peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from fertile women or with recurrent spontaneous abortions (RSA), in the absence or presence of VIP (10⁻⁷ M). (a) At 48 h of co-culture, the recovered cells were harvested and analysed by Western blot for T-bet expression. Representative immunoreactive bands are shown, and the semiquantification expressed as relative to β-actin in arbitrary units are shown in the bars. Results are representative of three independent experiments using different PBMCs from fertile women (*P < 0·05, Student's t-test). After 48 h of co-culture, supernatants were collected; (b) monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) and (c) nitrites were quantified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and the Griess method, respectively. Results are expressed as mean ± standard error of the mean of at least three independent experiments using different RSA and PBMCs from fertile women (n = 3, *P < 0·05, Student's t-test).