ABSTRACT
Objective To study the effect of metabolic syndrome on the fertility and reproduction in model animals. Methods The model of"high fat diet for spontaneously hypertensive rats(SHR)"was adopted to construct the model of metabolic syndrome in rats. The metabolic syndrome model rats were used to mate with male and female 1 : 1 cage, and the mating cycle was 2 weeks. Results After the SHR rats were fed a high-fat diet for 10 weeks, 16 males and 15 females met the screening criteria for metabolic syndrome, with the modeling rates of 40% and 37.5%, respectively. In addition to the abnormal metabolism-related indicators(such as blood glucose, blood lipid and blood pressure), the male rats with metabolic syndrome mainly had decreased sperm motility(P < 0.05), increased sperm malformation rate(P < 0.01), and decreased mating rate(P < 0.05). In addition to abnormal metabolism-related indicators, the conception rate and the live fetal rate of the female rats with metabolic syndrome were slightly lower than that of the control group; however, there was no statistical difference. The mean birth weight of the litter was significantly lower than that of the control group(P < 0.05). Conclusion According to the whole process from mating to natural production, metabolic syndrome is determined to have a significant effect on the fertility and reproductive ability of rats.
ABSTRACT
<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>The frequencies of regulatory T cells (Tregs) increased over the HIV infection but its counts actually decreased. We proposed that the decrease of Treg counts may cause the reduction of inhibitory effect and thereby account for the over-activation of Tregs during HIV infection. However, it remains unknown whether Tregs are also over-activated and thereafter the activation induced death may lead to the decrease of Tregs.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Tregs were defined as CD4(+)CD25(+)CD127(lo/-) T cells. Eighty-one HIV-1 infected patients were enrolled in our study, and twenty-two HIV-1 seronegative donors were recruited as the control. The levels of HLA-DR on Tregs were determined by FACSAria flow cytometer.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared to HIV-1 seronegative donors, the levels of HLA-DR on CD4(+)CD25(+)CD127(lo/-) Tregs were significantly increased in HIV-1 infected patients, and its increase was positively associated with viral loads (r = 0.3163, P = 0.004) and negatively with CD4 T-cell counts (r = -0.4153, P < 0.0001). In addition, significant associations between HLA-DR expression on CD4(+)CD25(+)CD127(lo/-) Tregs and the percentages of HLA-DR, CD38, Ki67 expressing CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells were also identified.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>HLA-DR on Tregs is a good marker for viral replication and disease progression. The over-activation of Tregs might result in the decrease of Tregs.</p>