Menstrual blood closely resembles the uterine immune micro-environment and is clearly distinct from peripheral blood
van der Molen RG, Schutten JHF, van Cranenbroek B, et al.Human Reproduction · 2014DOI 10.1093/humrep/det398
In plain language
Five healthy women collected menstrual blood with a menstrual cup over five cycles. Mononuclear cells isolated from it were clearly distinct from matched peripheral blood cells and resembled published descriptions of biopsy-derived endometrial immune cells, making menstrual blood a candidate non-invasive source of endometrial lymphocytes.
What it means
Menstrual blood gives non-invasive access to immune cells from the endometrium, which could support research into fertility problems. This work used fresh cells from five healthy women, not a dried sample.
What it does not show
Five healthy women, fresh cup-collected cells and flow cytometry; it shows a sampling route for immune cells, not any finding in a disease.
How to cite
van der Molen RG, Schutten JHF, van Cranenbroek B, ter Meer M, Donckers J, Scholten RR, et al. Menstrual blood closely resembles the uterine immune micro-environment and is clearly distinct from peripheral blood. Human Reproduction. 2014;29(2):303-314. doi:10.1093/humrep/det398