Physiology: Human tubal fluid: formation and composition during vascular perfusion of the Fallopian tube

A vascularly perfused preparation of the Fallopian tube hasbeen developed as a model to study the formation and compositionof human tubal fluid. An artery serving the tube was cannulatedand perfused at a rate of 0.7 ml/min for 1 h with Medium 199supplemented with bovine serum albumin, heparin and antibiotics.A cannula was also inserted into the lumen. Light and scanningelectron micrographs of control and perfused tubes showed thatthe epithelial lining was intact after perfusion. Tubal fluidwas collected in 13 out of 19 experiments. Fluid could alwaysbe collected from patients who were in the follicular phaseof their ovarian cycle. The mean rate of appearance was 48 µl/h.The glucose, lactate and pyruvate concentrations in the tubalfluid, as assessed by fluorescence microanalysis, were 0.53,8.58 and 0.17 mM respectively. There were no correlations betweenmetabolite concentration and the length of perfusion, cannulationtime, patient's age or condition. This technique provides acontrolled method with which to access and examine human tubalfluid and will allow the physiology of both healthy and diseasedtubes to be studied.