AUTHOR=Salamonsen Lois A. TITLE=Menstrual Fluid Factors Mediate Endometrial Repair JOURNAL=Frontiers in Reproductive Health VOLUME=3 YEAR=2021 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/reproductive-health/articles/10.3389/frph.2021.779979 DOI=10.3389/frph.2021.779979 ISSN=2673-3153 ABSTRACT=
Menstruation is a process whereby the outer functionalis layer of the endometrium is shed each month in response to falling progesterone and estrogen levels in a non-conception cycle. Simultaneously with the tissue breakdown, the surface is re-epithelialized, protecting the wound from infection. Once menstruation is complete and estrogen levels start to rise, regeneration progresses throughout the proliferative phase of the cycle, to fully restore endometrial thickness. Endometrial repair is unique compared to tissue repair elsewhere in the adult, in that it is rapid, scar-free and occurs around 400 times during each modern woman's reproductive life. The shedding tissue and that undergoing repair is bathed in menstrual fluid, which contains live cells, cellular debris, fragments of extracellular matrix, activated leukocytes and their products, soluble cellular components and extracellular vesicles. Proteomic and other analyses have revealed some detail of these components. Menstrual fluid, along with a number of individual proteins enhances epithelial cell migration to cover the wound. This is shown in endometrial epithelial and keratinocyte cell culture models, in an