Ultrastructural changes of rat blastocysts induced by estrogen during delayed implantation

Ultrastructural changes of rat blastocysts during delayed implantation were studied 16, 20, 24 or 30 hours after estrogen was given to induce implantation. In the inner cell mass the presence of long cytoplasmic processes penetrating deeply into the neighboring inner cell mass cells is seen at 16 hours. Most cells also show an increased number of ribosomes, polyribosomes and granular endoplasmic reticulum. The trophoblast is featured by the formation of large amounts of glycogen and many inclusion bodies. Glycogen granules appear first in some abembryonic trophoblast cells at 16 hours, and spread to the embryonic pole at 24 hours. New inclusion bodies appear sequentially: multivesicular bodies at 20 hours, multigranular bodies at 24 hours and lamellar bodies at 30 hours. The functions of these inclusion bodies remain to be studied.