Does dietary fat intake influence oocyte competence and embryo quality by inducing oxidative stress in follicular fluid?

Fat-rich diet may alter oocyte development and maturation and embryonic development by inducing oxidative stress [OS] in follicular environment To investigate the relationship between fat intake and oxidative stress with oocyte competence and embryo quality. In observational study follicular fluid was collected from 236 women undergoing assisted reproduction program. Malon-di-aldehyde [MDA] levels and total antioxidant capacity [TAC] levels of follicular fluid were assessed as oxidative stress biomarkers. In assisted reproduction treatment cycle fat consumption and its component were assessed. A percentage of metaphase Second stage oocytes, fertilization rate were considered as markers of oocyte competence and non-fragmented embryo rate, mean of blastomer and good cleavage [embryos with more than 5 cells on 3 days post insemination] rate were considered as markers of embryo quality. The MDA level in follicular fluid was positively related to polyunsaturated fatty acids intake level [p=0.02] and negatively associated with good cleavage rate [p=0.045]. Also good cleavage rate [p=0.005] and mean of blastomer [p=0.006] was negatively associated with polyunsaturated fatty acids intake levels. The percentage of metaphase Second stage oocyte was positively related to the TAC levels in follicular fluid [p=0.046]. The relationship between the OS biomarkers in FF and the fertilization rate was not significant. These findings revealed that fat rich diet may induce the OS in oocyte environment and negatively influence embryonic development. This effect can partially be accounted by polyunsaturated fatty acids uptake while oocyte maturation is related to TAC and oocytes with low total antioxidant capacity have lower chance for fertilization and further development

Lymphocyte cytotoxicity of oxLDL in patients with atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis, a chronic inflammatory disease of the vessel wall is characterized by local and systemic immune responses to a variety of antigens. Oxidized low-density lipoprotein [oxLDL] is considered as an important determining factor in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the degree of peripheral blood mononuclear cells [PBMC] vulnerability to in vitro oxLDL-induced cytotoxicity from atherosclerotic patients in comparison to healthy individuals. Thirty patients with atherosclerotic lesions, confirmed by angiography, and 30 matched healthy individuals were investigated. PBMC was prepared from individuals' blood samples which were further stimulated with low dose [1 micro g/mL] and high dose [50 micro g/mL] of extensively oxidized LDL. MTT assay was utilized to measure cell viability and proliferation. Stimulation index [SI] was calculated as mean ratio of optical density [OD] of the stimulated cells divided by OD of untreated cells. Low dose oxLDL treatment caused no significant proliferative or cytotoxic effect in the control group; however, similar treatment caused significant cytotoxic effect in the patient group compared to the controls [p=0.026]. High dose oxLDL treatment induced more significant cytotoxicity in the patient compared to the control group [p=0.006]. Comparison of the SI between the two groups of patients and controls showed significantly lower index by either the low [p=0.03] or the high dose [p<0.001] oxLDL in the patients compared to the controls. PBMC from patients with atherosclerosis showed increased susceptibility to oxLDL-induced cytotoxicity. Our results imply that prolonged exposure to elevated levels of circulating oxLDL could weaken the cellular defense mechanisms by progressive depletion of the pool of antiapoptotic proteins, rendering the cells more vulnerable to oxLDL-induced cell death

In vitro soluble cd30 levels in patients with chronic stable coronary artery disease

The CD30 antigen seems to play a costimulatory role in maintaining the physiological balance between T-helper [Th] l/Th2 immune responses. In this study, plasma and in vitro soluble CD30 [sCD30] secretion was investigated in patients with coronary artery disease [CAD] as a plausible marker of dysregulated immune response. Twenty one patients with angiographically confirmed CAD and 31 healthy controls took part in this study. The levels of the activation marker sCD30 were determined in plasma and phytohaemagglutinin [PHA]-stimulated and unstimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cell cultures by ELISA. Plasma sCD30 levels did not differ significantly between the patients and controls. However, spontaneous sCD30 secretion was significantly lower in patients with CAD compared to controls [p < 0.001]. The soluble CD30 levels were significantly increased in the supernatant of PHA-stimulated PBMCs compared to unstimulated cultures in both groups of patients and controls [p < 0.001]. PHA-stimulated sCD30 secretion was found to be lower in patients compared to controls; however, the difference was not statistically significant. Plasma sCD30 levels were not statistically different in patients with chronic stable CAD, a well-known Thl-mediated disease, compared to controls; whereas decreased spontaneous and PHA-stimulated sCD30 secretion in patients with CAD might indicate the progressive shift towards a Thl immune response

Effect of all-trans retinoic acid [ATRA] on viability, proliferation, activation and lineage-specific transcription factors of CD4+ T cells

All-trans retinoic acid [ATRA], as an active metabolite of vitamin A, has been shown to affect immune cells. This study was performed to evaluate the effect of ATRA on viability, proliferation, activation and lineage-specific transcription factors of CD4+ T cells. CD4+ T cells were separated from heparinized blood of healthy donors and were cultured in conditions, some with, some without ATRA. Viability was assessed by PI flowcytometry and proliferation was measured by MTT assay. CD69 expression was determined by flowcytometry as a measure of cell activation. Lineage-specific transcription factors [FOXP3, RORgammat and T-bet] were examined by intracellular staining and flowcytometry. High doses of ATRA [0.1-1 mM] caused extensive cell death in both PBMCs and CD4+ T cells. Doses of ATRA equal to or lower than 10 microM did not adversely affect cell viability and proliferation in comparison to culture medium without ATRA. Doses of ATRA between 10 microM and InM significantly increased cell activation when compared to culture medium without ATRA. ATRA could increase FOXP3+ and also FOXP3+RORgammat+ T cells while it decreased RORgammat+ and T-bet+ T cells. This study showed that doses of ATRA up to 10 microM are safe when using with CD4+ T cells in terms of cell viability, proliferation and activation. We could also show that ATRA diverts the human immune response in neutral conditions [without adding polarizing cytokines] by increasing FOXP3+ cells and decreasing RORgammat+ cells. ATRA could be regarded as a potential therapy in inflammatory conditions and autoimmunities

Measurement of affinity constant of anti-human IgG monoclonal antibodies by an elisa-based method

Bakground: The affinity of an antibody to its antigen is a crucial parameter in its biological activity and performance of an immunoassay such as ELISA. Affinity of most IgG specific MAbs are often determined by methods which require labeling of either antigen or antibody, and are sometimes difficult to control, do not always lead to the expected signal and often result in immunological modification of the molecules. Moreover, direct solid phase binding assays pose some problems such as diffusion effects and difficulties in reaching equilibrium due to heterogeneous binding and co-operativity

Objective: To employ a rapid and simple ELISA-based method for measuring affinity constants of two pan-h-IgG specific MAbs [3F2D8 and 5F19G11] established in our laboratory

Methods: The method is based on the effect of antibody affinity on the sigmoidal dose response curve. In this method, the binding of anti-human IgG [anti-h-IgG] MAbs with their corresponding antigen was measured using serial concentrations of both antigen and antibody. The amount of antibody bound to the antigen on the plate is represented as a sigmoidal curve of OD versus the logarithm of antibody concentration added to each well

Results: Based on the data obtained from this study, the affinity constants of 3F2D8 and 5F19G11 MAbs were 0.74 x 10[8] Mol[-1] and 0.96 x 10[7] Mol respectively

Conclusion: 3F2D8 MAb with reasonably high affinity is suggested as a candidate for quantitative measurement of IgG by ELISA, whereas 5F19G11 MAb could be considered as a suitable tool for immunoaffinity chromatography