scholarly journals Disorders of follicle development and steroidogenesis in ovaries of androgenised foetal sheep

2015 ◽  
Vol 225 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabio V Comim ◽  
Kate Hardy ◽  
Jane Robinson ◽  
Stephen Franks

The prenatally androgenised (PA) sheep is a well-recognised model for the study of developmental programming of adult polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Most of the studies to date have involved examination of the reproductive and metabolic effects in the offspring after puberty, but more recently, it has been reported that there is disruption of follicle formation and steroid gene expression in ovaries of foetal sheep after exposure of the mother to excess androgen. Our study examines evidence for precocious primordial follicle formation at day 90 of gestation in ovaries of foetal Poll Dorset sheep. Using a specific marker of germ cells (VASA homologue protein) in ovarian sections, we found that androgenised sheep had nearly double the proportion of germ cells enclosed in follicles compared with control animals. When analysed by follicle stage, there was no significant difference between groups in the proportion of primordial follicles and growing (transitional and primary) follicles. Differences between PA and control foetal sheep were found in both mRNA and in protein expression of steroidogenic enzymes and androgen receptor. Our results in Dorset ewes are complementary to previous reports, but suggest that the timing of follicle formation and steroidogenic activity may vary between different breeds as well as in response to androgen. These data show that granulosa cells constitute a specific target for programming by androgenin uteroand raise key questions about the role of exposure to androgenin uteroin developmental origins of PCOS.

Reproduction ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 149 (5) ◽  
pp. 403-411 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Al-Samerria ◽  
I Al-Ali ◽  
J R McFarlane ◽  
G Almahbobi

The primordial follicle reserve is the corner stone of female fertility and determines the longevity and quality of reproduction. Complete depletion of this reserve will lead to primary infertility, and the key-limiting step of follicle depletion is the transition from primordial to primary follicles. It has been reported that this process is gonadotrophin-independent, but other conflicting reports are indicated otherwise and this discrepancy needs to be unequivocally clarified. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) in the regulation of folliculogenesis in mice passively immunised against BMP receptor 1B (BMPRIB) and BMP4. While a stereological study revealed that the numbers of primordial follicles in immunised mice were significantly higher when compared with control animals, treatment with equine chorionic gonadotrophin showed no effect. In parallel, immunofluorescence microscopy revealed the presence of BMPRIB but not FSH receptor in primordial follicles. The number of primary follicles in immunised mice were also significantly increased when compared with control animals. After puberty, the rates of depletion of primordial and primary follicles were increased with age, particularly in treated animals; however, there was no significant difference between the treatment groups of the same age. Based on these results together with our previous reports in sheep and mice, we confirm that the attenuation of BMP signalling system can be an effective approach to sustain the primordial follicle reserve while promoting the development of growing follicles, ovulation and consequently overall female fertility.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica M. Toothaker ◽  
Kristen Roosa ◽  
Alexandra Voss ◽  
Suzanne M. Getman ◽  
Melissa Pepling

Abstract BackgroundAssembly of oocytes into primordial follicles is essential for establishing the ovarian reserve required for female fertility. In mice, this process begins during embryonic development. Primordial germ cells form cysts by incomplete mitosis until 13.5 days post coitum (dpc). These cysts break down just before birth. Some oocytes undergo apoptosis while surviving oocytes are enclosed by granulosa cells to form primordial follicles. Cyst breakdown and primordial follicle formation were previously shown to be inhibited by estradiol and estrogenic compounds in vitro, suggesting that estrogen is important for regulation of this process. MethodsTo determine the role of fetal estrogen in cyst breakdown and follicle formation these processes were quantified in aromatase deficient (ArKO) mice between 17.5 dpc and postnatal day (PND) 9. Ovaries of ArKO mice were also examined at 2-week intervals to determine if folliculogenesis is affected by lack of estrogen and the age at which the typical ArKO ovarian phenotype first appears. ResultsOocyte number, follicle assembly and follicle development in ArKO mice did not differ from controls between 17.5 dpc and PND9 except for a difference in the proportion of follicles at the primordial and primary stage at PND7. At 2 weeks, ArKO heterozygous and homozygous ovaries still had oocytes in cyst while all oocytes were enclosed in follicles in wildtype ovaries. From 2 to 8 weeks oocyte numbers were similar in all genotypes though there was a trend toward fewer total oocytes in ArKO homozygous females as compared to controls at 8 weeks and a significant reduction at 10 weeks. Abnormal structures such as hemorrhagic follicles and hemosiderin deposits were also observed starting at 6 weeks. ConclusionsThese results suggest that a lack of fetal estrogen does not affect the rate of cyst breakdown or primordial follicle formation perinatally, and maternal estrogen or other signals are the chief regulators. Furthermore, the typical ArKO ovarian phenotype occurs earlier than previously reported.


2021 ◽  
pp. 037957212110254
Author(s):  
Harleen Kaur ◽  
Neerja Singla ◽  
Rohini Jain

Objective: India is the second country after China having the highest population prevalence of diabetes. Several research studies investigating diabetes have been done, but not much work has been done on prediabetes. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of nutrition and lifestyle modification on prediabetic females. Methods: A total of 120 prediabetic females from Ludhiana city were divided into 2 matched groups: control group (n = 60) and experimental group (n = 60). Impact of nutrition intervention for dietary and lifestyle modification (for 3 months) was assessed on the anthropometric, dietary, biochemical parameters, and diabetes risk score of the experimental group and control group (no intervention). Results: All the selected 120 subjects completed the study (experimental group = 60; control group = 60). There was significant difference in the changes between the 2 groups throughout the study. The fasting blood glucose and glycated hemoglobin A1c levels of the experimental group subjects reduced significantly ( P ≤ .01). However, no change was observed among the control group subjects. The lipid profile of the experimental group showed a significant improvement ( P ≤ .01). Conclusion: Nutrition counselling of the prediabetics regarding dietary and lifestyle modification is recommended so as to improve their metabolic control, thus preventing them from being diabetics.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 183
Author(s):  
Roya Keshavarz ◽  
Amin Marzban

<p>The present study was an attempt to investigate the effect two types of corrective feedback (i.e., recast and metalinguistic) in order to find out which one is more effective on EFL learners’ speaking improvement and also to see if gender could play a role in the relative impact of the two types of corrective feedback on learners’ speaking ability. To this end, 65 EFL learners of intermediate level in one of language institutes in Shiraz, Iran were selected and divided into three groups including two experimental groups and one control. The instruments used to collect the data included IELTS test as the pre and post tests and Oxford Placement Test (OPT) in order to obtain the homogeneity in participants’ English proficiency. The collected data were codified and entered into SPSS Software (Version 22) and were analysed using descriptive statistics, t-test, and Tukey test. The results indicated that although applying these two types of corrective feedback could have made improvement in EFL learners’ speaking ability, there was not observed any significant difference between impacts of recast and metalinguistic on EFL learners’ production. The test results also indicated that there was not any significant difference regarding gender within the three groups. This homogeneity further shows that in this study, the gender variable did not have any effect on the role of corrective feedback and it can be concluded that the observed difference between metalinguistic group, recast group, and control group is just the result of the provided corrective feedback type which has acted as the intervening variable and the moderator variable such as gender did not prove to have any effect in the outcome of this study. The findings can contribute to syllabus design and teaching methodology areas.</p>


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Praveen Chakravarthi ◽  
Subhra Ghosh ◽  
Katherine F. Roby ◽  
Michael W. Wolfe ◽  
M. A. Karim Rumi

AbstractOver the entire reproductive lifespan in mammals, a fixed number of primordial follicles serve as the source of mature oocytes. Uncontrolled and excessive activation of primordial follicles can lead to depletion of the ovarian reserve. We observed that disruption of ESR2-signaling results in increased activation of primordial follicles in Esr2-null (Esr2-/-) rats. However, follicle assembly was unaffected, and the total number of follicles remained comparable between neonatal wildtype and Esr2-/- ovaries. While the activated follicle counts were increased in Esr2-/- ovary, the number of primordial follicles were markedly decreased. Excessive recruitment of primordial follicles led to premature ovarian senescence in Esr2-/- rats and was associated with reduced levels of serum AMH and estradiol. Disruption of ESR2-signaling through administration of a selective antagonist (PHTPP) increased the number of activated follicles in wildtype rats, whereas a selective agonist (DPN) decreased follicle activation. In contrast, primordial follicle activation was not increased in the absence of ESR1 indicating that the regulation of primordial follicle activation is ESR2-specific. Follicle activation was also increased in Esr2-mutants lacking the DNA-binding domain, suggesting a role for the canonical transcriptional activation function. Both primordial and activated follicles express ESR2 suggesting a direct regulatory role for ESR2 within these follicles. We also detected that loss of ESR2 augmented the activation of AKT, ERK and mTOR pathways. Our results indicate that the lack of ESR2 upregulated both granulosa and oocyte factors, which can facilitate AKT and mTOR activation in Esr2-/- ovaries leading to increased activation of primordial follicles.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (A) ◽  
pp. 517-520
Author(s):  
Hilma Putri Lubis ◽  
Muhammad Fidel Ganis Siregar ◽  
Ichwanul Adenin ◽  
Binarwan Halim ◽  
Henry Salim Siregar ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common endocrine disorders of women in the childbearing period. However, its pathophysiology is still unclear. Certain polymorphisms of the luteinizing hormone/choriogonadotropin receptor (LHCGR) genes may lead to changes in the bioactivity of this hormone. The important functional role of LHCGR in the metabolism of androgen and ovulation, the LHCGR gene variant, may be related to the risk of PCOS. AIM: The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between LHCGR Ins18LQ gene polymorphism and PCOS. METHODS: A case–control study was performed in women with PCOS and non-PCOS from May 2019 to October 2019 in HFC IVF Center. We included 50 women with PCOS and 50 healthy controls. Polymorphism of the LHCGR (ins18LQ) gene was genotyped using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism. RESULTS: From this study, we found that there was no significant difference in the proportion of ages between the groups (p > 0.05). There were significant differences in the characteristics of body mass index, FSH level, LH level, and LH/FSH ratio between the PCOS and control groups (p < 0.05). We also found that the proportion of heterozygote variant non-ins/ins was higher in the PCOS group compared to the control group, but there was no significant difference between the polymorphisms of the non-ins and non-nonins variants between the PCOS and control groups (p = 0.269). The frequency of ins alleles was higher in the PCOS group compared to the control group. CONCLUSION: There was no significant association between LHCGR ins18LQ gene polymorphism and PCOS.


Reproduction ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 156 (1) ◽  
pp. F59-F73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anamaria C Herta ◽  
Francesca Lolicato ◽  
Johan E J Smitz

The currently available assisted reproduction techniques for fertility preservation (i.e.in vitromaturation (IVM) andin vitrofertilization) are insufficient as stand-alone procedures as only few reproductive cells can be conserved with these techniques. Oocytes in primordial follicles are well suited to survive the cryopreservation procedure and of use as valuable starting material for fertilization, on the condition that these could be grown up to fully matured oocytes. Our understanding of the biological mechanisms directing primordial follicle activation has increased over the last years and this knowledge has paved the way toward clinical applications. New multistepin vitrosystems are making use of purified precursor cells and extracellular matrix components and by applying bio-printing technologies, an adequate follicular niche can be built. IVM of human oocytes is clinically applied in patients with polycystic ovary/polycystic ovary syndrome; related knowhow could become useful for fertility preservation and for patients with maturation failure and follicle-stimulating hormone resistance. The expectations from the research on human ovarian tissue and immature oocytes cultures, in combination with the improved vitrification methods, are high as these technologies can offer realistic potential for fertility preservation.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mercan Taştemur ◽  
Selvihan Beysel ◽  
Sema Hepşen ◽  
Sanem Öztekin ◽  
Erman Çakal ◽  
...  

Background: This study aims to investigate the role of ADAMTS7 and ADAMTS12 on atherosclerosis and inflammation in prediabetic and diabetic patients. Patients & methods: Serum ADAMTS7 and ADAMTS12 levels were compared with the atherosclerotic and inflammatory markers in diabetic (n = 65, female 30.9%, mean age = 53 years), prediabetic (n = 55, female 36.6%, mean age = 49 years) and control groups (n = 55, females 32.5%, mean age = 49 years). Serum ADAMTS levels were determined by a human enzyme-liked immunoassay. Results: In terms of ADAMTS7, there was no significant difference between diabetic, prediabetic and control groups (50.93, 44.34, 59.07, respectively; p > 0.05). ADAMTS12 is lower in diabetics (p < 0.05), whereas it is similar in prediabetics and controls (14.53, 20.76, 25.05, respectively; p > 0.05). ADAMTS7 and ADAMTS12 levels did not differ in diabetic nephropathy, retinopathy and neuropathy (p > 0.05). Conclusion: While ADAMTS12 was significantly lower in diabetics and prediabetics, ADAMTS7 and ADAMTS12 were not related to diabetic complications (nephropathy, retinopathy and neuropathy).


Endocrinology ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 152 (2) ◽  
pp. 697-706 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fuminori Kimura ◽  
Lara M. Bonomi ◽  
Alan L. Schneyer

Abstract Follistatin (FST) is an antagonist of activin and related TGFβ superfamily members that has important reproductive actions as well as critical regulatory functions in other tissues and systems. FST is produced as three protein isoforms that differ in their biochemical properties and in their localization within the body. We created FST288-only mice that only express the short FST288 isoform and previously reported that females are subfertile, but have an excess of primordial follicles on postnatal day (PND) 8.5 that undergo accelerated demise in adults. We have now examined germ cell nest breakdown and primordial follicle formation in the critical PND 0.5–8.5 period to test the hypothesis that the excess primordial follicles derive from increased proliferation and decreased apoptosis during germ cell nest breakdown. Using double immunofluorescence microscopy we found that there is virtually no germ cell proliferation after birth in wild-type or FST288-only females. However, the entire process of germ cell nest breakdown was extended in time (through at least PND 8.5) and apoptosis was significantly reduced in FST288-only females. In addition, FST288-only females are born with more germ cells within the nests. Thus, the excess primordial follicles in FST288-only mice derive from a greater number of germ cells at birth as well as a reduced rate of apoptosis during nest breakdown. These results also demonstrate that FST is critical for normal regulation of germ cell nest breakdown and that loss of the FST303 and/or FST315 isoforms leads to excess primordial follicles with accelerated demise, resulting in premature cessation of ovarian function.


Author(s):  
TAMER HABIB ◽  
AMIRA B KASSEM ◽  
ISLAM AHMED

Objective: Using probiotics in preventing ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) remain controversial due to different intensive care unit (ICU) populations included in such studies. The aim of this study is to evaluate the role of probiotics in prophylaxis of VAP after multiple trauma. Methods: Sixty-five adult multiple trauma patients on mechanical ventilator (expected ≥48 h) after admission to the Critical Care Medicine Department, Alexandria Main University Hospital from June to November 2018. Patients were randomly assigned using computer sheet into two groups; probiotics group (32 patients received one Lacteol Forte® sachet through orogastric/nasogastric tube 3 times daily during their ICU stay) and control group (33 patients received similar regimen of placebo sachets). All patients were followed up and subjected to all possible strategies of the diagnosis of microbiologically confirmed VAP. Results: Sixty-five patients were enrolled with a mean of age (39.48±7.692) years, 80% of them were male. Regarding the incidence of VAP, it was 18.46% of all patients without statistically significant difference between probiotics group (15.63%) and control group (21.21%) (p=0.751). Conclusion: Routine use of early probiotics in mechanically ventilated multiple trauma patients was not associated with lower incidence of VAP, duration of MV, or ICU mortality.


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