ABSTRACT
Endometriosis is a common, benign gynecological disease which is determined as an overspreading of endometrial tissue in exterior region of the uterine cavity. Evidence suggests that retrograde menstrual blood which contains mesenchymal stem cells with differential gene expression compared to healthy women may play a role in endometriosis creation. We aimed to identify whether the conditioned medium (CM) from menstrual blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MenSCs) of healthy women can affect the expression level of inf lammatory and stemness genes of MenSCs from endometriosis women. Endometriosis-derived MenSCs (E-MenSCs) were treated with CM derived from healthy women’s MenSCs (non-endometriosis derived MenSCs [NE-MenSCs]). Some CD markers were analyzed by flow cytometer before and after treatment compared with NE-MenSCs, and the expression level of inflammatory and stemness genes was evaluated by real-time PCR. E-MenSCs show different morphology in vitro culture in comparison with NE-MenSCs, which were changed in the presence of CM, into a morphology more similar to normal cells and showed significant decrease expression of CD10 after CM treatment. In our results, the interleukin-1, cyclooxygenase-2, and hypoxia-inducible factor 1α as inflamaturay genes and octamer-binding transcription factor 4, NANOG, and sex determining region Y-box 2 as stemness genes showed significantly different expression level in E-MenSCs after treating with CM. Our study indicates that the expression level of some inflammatory- and stemness-related genes which have differential expression in E-MenSCs compared with NEMenSCs, could be changed to normal status by using CM derived from NE-MenSCs.
ABSTRACT
There are several factors, like environmental agents, neurotrophic factors, serotonin and some hormones such as estrogen, affecting neurogenesis and neural differentiation. Regarding to importance of proliferation and regeneration in central nervous system, and a progressive increase in neurodegenerative diseases, cell therapy is an attractive approach in neuroscience. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of sex steroid hormones and basic fibroblast growth factor [bFGF] on neuronal differentiation of mouse bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells [BM-MSCs]. This experimental study was established in Kharazmi University. BM was isolated from the bones of femur and tibia of 4-6-week old Naval Medical Research Institute [NMRI] mice, and the cells were cultured. The cells were divided into following 4 groups based on the applied treatments: I. control [no treatment], II. steroid hormones [beta-estradiol, progesterone and testosterone], III. bFGF and IV. combination of steroid hormones and bFGF. Immunocytochemistry and flow cytometery analyses were applied for beta III-tubulin [beta-III tubulin] and microtubule-associated proteins-2 [MAP-2] in 4 days of treatment for all groups. The cells treated with combination of bFGF and steroid hormones represented more expressions of neural markers as compared to control and to other two groups treated with either bFGF or steroid hormones. This study showed that BM-MSCs can express specific neural markers after receiving bFGF pretreatment that was followed by sex steroid hormones treatment. More investigations are necessary to specify whether steroid hormones and bFGF can be con-sidered for treatment of CNS diseases and disorders
ABSTRACT
Cyclooxygenase 2 is a key enzyme which converts arachidonic acid into prostaglandins. Cyclooxygenase 2 is triggered by inflammatory stimuli, such as cytokines. Its expression increases in tumors and Alzheimer's disease and ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. Polycystic ovarian syndrome is a heterogeneous disease characterized by pathological angiogenesis and chronic anovulation. In the present study, the probable role of cyclooxygenase 2 in Wistar rats with polycystic ovarian syndrome was investigated. Thirty female Wistar rats [170-200 gr] were equally divided into three groups: 2 mg estradiol valerate was intramuscularly administered to each rat in the experiment group or group 1; the rats in group 2 were regarded as the sham group and received sesame oil injections and group 3 or the control group received no injections. After 60 days of treatment, animals were anaesthetized with chloroform and killed by decapitation. Ovaries were collected for histological and immunohistochemical evaluations. All the experiments were repeated three times. Morphologically, ovaries from the control group exhibited follicles in various stages of development and many fresh corpus luteum. In estradiol valerate group small follicles in early development were observed in addition to follicles showing evidence of atresia and many large cysts with thickened theca cell layer. Corpus luteum was rare or absent in group 2. The immunohistochemical analysis for cyclooxygenase 2 expression showed an increased expression of cyclooxygenase 2 enzyme in group 1. The results suggested the involvement of cyclooxygenase 2 in the progression to polycystic ovarian syndrome in a rat model