FIG. 6.

Impaired in vitro decidualization of eSF- and eMSC-derived cultures from women with endometriosis. Cells from late primary cultures of subject-paired eMSC and eSF from three control and two endometriosis subjects were subcultured and grown to confluence. Confluent replicate cultures were treated with estradiol plus progesterone (E₂P₄) or ethanol (vehicle) for 14 days. Decidualization was assessed measuring concentrations of the decidual biomarker insulin-like growth factor binding protein-1 (IGFBP-1) in conditioned media by ELISA. Values represent the mean ± SD of IGFBP1 concentration in conditioned media of eSF cultures from control (eSF control, n = 15) or endometriosis (eSF endometriosis, n = 6) treated with vehicle (blue bars) or E₂P₄ (red bars), and of subject-paired eMSC cultures from control (eMSC control, n = 15) or endometriosis (eMSC endometriosis, n = 6) treated with vehicle (blue bars) or E₂P₄ (red bars). Results of significance testing of the differences between E₂P₄-treated (red bars) and the corresponding vehicle-treated cultures (blue bars) are indicated: *P < 0.05 compared to vehicle; ns, not significant (P > 0.05) compared to vehicle. Mean IGFBP1 concentrations in all vehicle-treated groups (blue bars) and in the E₂P₄-treated endometriosis eMSC group (eMSC endometriosis, red bar) were <1 ng/ml. IGFBP1 concentrations in the E₂P₄-treated endometriosis eSF group (eSF endometriosis, red bar) were low and highly variable (25 ± 26 ng/ml), as frequently seen in P₄-resistant eSF.