Bioscientifica Proceedings

The immune system discriminates 'self' from 'non-self', and eliminates that which it determines to be non-self. Mammalian pregnancy appears to represent a failure of self-non-self discrimination, yet it is a highly successful reproductive strategy. We present evidence that the immune system of the female pig responds to the challenges of both mating and the presence of conceptuses. Mating induces an influx of inflammatory leukocytes into the endometrial stroma and uterine...