Metabolic fingerprinting of seminal plasma from non-obstructive azoospermia patients: Positive versus negative sperm retrieval

Background: Non-obstructive azoospermia [NOA] occurs in approximately 10% of infertile men. Retrieval of the spermatozoa from the testicle of NOA patients is an invasive approach. Seminal plasma is an excellent source for exploring to find the biomarkers for presence of spermatozoa in testicular tissue. The present discovery phase study aimed to use metabolic fingerprinting to detect spermatogenesis from seminal plasma in NOA patients as a non-invasive method

Methods: In this study, 20 men with NOA were identified based on histological analysis who had their first testicular biopsy in 2015 at Avicenna Fertility Center, Tehran, Iran. They were divided into two groups, a positive testicular sperm extrac-tion [TESE[+]] and a negative testicular sperm extraction [TESE[-]]. Seminal plasma of NOA patients was collected before they underwent testicular sperm extraction [TESE] operation. The metabolomic fingerprinting was evaluated by Raman spec-trometer. Principal component analysis [PCA] and an unsupervised statistical meth-od, was used to detect outliers and find the structure of the data. The PCA was ana-lyzed by MATLAB software

Results: Metabolic fingerprinting of seminal plasma from NOA showed that TESE [+] versus TESE[-] patients were classified by PCA. Furthermore, a possible subdi-vision of TESE[-] group was observed. Additionally, TESE[-] patients were in ex-treme oxidative imbalance compared to TESE[+] patients

Conclusion: Metabolic fingerprinting of seminal plasma can be considered as a breakthrough, an easy and cheap method for prediction presence of spermatogenesis in NOA

challenge of human spermatozoa proteome: a systematic review

Currently, there are 20,197 human protein-coding genes in the most expertly curated database [UniProtKB/Swiss-Pro]. Big efforts have been made by the international consortium, the Chromosome-Centric Human Proteome Project [C-HPP] and independent researchers, to map human proteome. In brief, anno 2017 the human proteome was outlined. The male factor contributes to 50% of infertility in couples. However, there are limited human spermatozoa proteomic studies. Firstly, the development of the mapping of the human spermatozoa was analyzed. The human spermatozoa have been used as a model for missing proteins. It has been shown that human spermatozoa are excellent sources for finding missing proteins. Y chromosome proteome mapping is led by Iran. However, it seems that it is extremely challenging to map the human spermatozoa Y chromosome proteins based on current mass spectrometry-based proteomics technology. Post-translation modifications [PTMs] of human spermatozoa proteome are the most unexplored area and currently the exact role of PTMs in male infertility is unknown. Additionally, the clinical human spermatozoa proteomic analysis, anno 2017 was done in this study

Case report: combination therapy with mesenchymal stem cells and granulocyte-colony stimulating factor in a case of spinal cord injury

Introduction: Various neuroregenerative procedures have been recently employed along with neurorehabilitation programs to promote neurological function after Spinal Cord Injury [SCI], and recently most of them have focused on the acute stage of spinal cord injury. In this report, we present a case of acute SCI treated with neuroprotective treatments in conjunction with conventional rehabilitation program

Methods: A case of acute penetrative SCI [gunshot wound], 40 years old, was treated with intrathecal bone marrow derived stem cells and parenteral Granulocyte-Colony Stimulating Factor [G-CSF] along with rehabilitation program. The neurological outcomes as well as safety issues have been reported

Results: Assessment with American Spinal Injury Association [ASIA], showed neurological improvement, meanwhile he reported neuropathic pain, which was amenable to oral medication

Discussion: In the acute setting, combination therapy of G-CSF and intrathecal Mesenchymal Stem Cells [MSCs] was safe in our case as an adjunct to conventional rehabilitation programs. Further controlled studies are needed to find possible side effects, and establish net efficacy

Human autologous serum as a substitute for fetal bovine serum in human schwann cell culture

Nowadays, cell -based and tissue engineered products have opened new horizons in treatment of incurable nervous system disorders. The number of studies on the role of Schwann cells [SC] in treating nervous disorders is higher than other cell types. Different protocols have been suggested for isolation and expansion of SC which most of them have used multiple growth factors, mitogens and fetal bovine sera [FBS] in culture medium. Because of potential hazards of animal-derived reagents, this study was designed to evaluate the effect of replacing FBS with human autologous serum [HAS] on SC's yield and culture parameters. Samples from 10 peripheral nerve biopsies were retrieved and processed under aseptic condition. The isolated cells cultured in FBS [1st group] or autologous serum [2nd group]. After primary culture the cells were seeded at 10000 cell/cm[2] in a 12 wells cell culture plate for each group. At 100% confluency, the cell culture parameters [count, viability, purity and culture duration] of 2 groups were compared using paired t-test. The average donors' age was 35.80 [SD=13.35] and except for 1 sample the others cultured successfully. In first group, the averages of cell purity, viability and culture duration were 97% [SD=1.32], 97/33% [SD=1.22] and 11.77 [SD=2.58] days respectively. This parameters were 97.33% [SD=1.00], 97.55% [SD=1.33] and 10.33 days [SD=1.65] in second group. The difference of cell count, purity and viability were not significant between 2 groups [P>0.05]. The cells of second group reached to 100% confluency in shorter period of time [P=0.03]. The results of this study showed that autologous serum can be a good substitute for FBS in human SC culture. This can reduce the costs and improve the safety of cell product for clinical application

effect of gamma irradiation on the osteoinductivity of demineralized human bone allograft

The gamma irradiation has been used for end sterilization of allograft bones and its effects with a 25 kGy dosage on the osteoinductive properties of demineralized bone allograft powder was studied. This work carried out using an experimental method in an animal model. In this study the demineralized bone allograft powder which had been sterilized and prepared with gamma irradiation in a 25 kGy dosage in 18 hours, was used as a study group and the demineralized bone allograft powder which had been prepared aseptically was used as the reference group. 30 mg of bone powder from each group were implanted into right and left paravertebral muscles of eighteen rats, separately. After four weeks, the implanted samples were harvested with a 0.5 cm border and then the osteoinductivity of implants in two groups were compared with histopathologic studies. In 94.4% of the reference samples a new bone formation was observed. In the study group, this difference was observed only in 27.7% of samples [P<0.002]. It appears that using gamma irradiation may lead to a reduction in osteoinduction properties of demineralized bone allograft powder

effect of fetal liver-derived cell suspension allotransplantation on patients with diabetes: first year of follow-up

Stem cell-based therapies have recently opened up new horizons for treatment of various types of diseases including diabetes mellitus. However, long-term efficacy and safety of these novel modalities still remain a serious question. Hereby, we aim to report the one-year follow-up results in the diabetic patients who underwent fetal liver-derived hematopoietic stem cell allotransplantation. Fifty six patients with type one [n=30] and type two [n=26] diabetes, aged 10-58 years old [32.8 +/- 16.3] were divided into the intervention and placebo group. The patients in the intervention group underwent fetal liver-derived hematopoietic stem cell transplantation while the patients in the placebo group received 5 ml of normal saline both via an intravenous route. The patients were visited at regular intervals to evaluate the efficacy of transplantation in glycemic control as well as possible complications. In the 6[th] month of the follow-up, there was a significant decrease in HbA[1]c levels in all groups without any rise in the fasting c-peptide. However, none of the precipitants transiently or continuously became insulin free in the first year after transplantation. It can be concluded that, in this study, fetal liver-derived hematopoietic stem cell transplantation had no significant effects on glycemic control. The heterogeneity of our patients might account for the negative results. Hence, longer follow-up results will be reported in the near future.

[Cost-effectiveness of homograft heart valve replacement surgery: an introductory study]

The clinical effectiveness of heart valve replacement surgery has been well documented. Mechanical and homograft valves are used routinely for replacement of damaged heart valves. Homograft valves are produced in our country but we import the mechanical valves. To our knowledge the cost-effectiveness of homograft valve has not been assessed. The objective of the present study was to compare the cost-effectiveness of homograft valve replacement with mechanical valve replacement surgery. Samples were selected from 200 patients that underwent homograft and mechanical heart valve replacement surgery in Imam-Khomeini hospital [2000 - 2005]. In each group we enrolled 30 patients. Quality of life was measured using the SF-36 health survey and efficacy was measured in QALYs. For each group we calculated the price of heart valve and hospitalization charges. Finally the cost-effectiveness of each treatment modalities were summarized as costs per QALYs gained. Forty males and 20 females participated in the study. The mean score of quality of life was 66.06 [SD= 9.22] in homograft group and 57.85 [SD= 11.30] in mechanical group [P< 0.05]. The mean QALYs gained in homograft group was 0.67 more than mechanical group. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio [ICER] revealed a cost savings of 9,604,440 IRRials for each quality-adjusted life year gained in homograft group. Despite limitation of this introductory study, we concluded that homograft valve replacement was more effective and less expensive than mechanical valve. These findings can encourage healthcare managers and policy makers to support the production of homograft valves and allocate more recourse for developing such activities

Prevalence of human T-Lymphotrophic Virus [HTLV] 1,2 Among tissue donors in Iranian tissue bank

Iranian Tissue Bank prepares a wide range of human tissue homografts such as; Heart valve, Bone, Skin, Amniotic membrane and other tissues for different clinical applications.The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of HTLV in tissue donors from 2001 to 2006 in Iranian Tissue Bank/ Tehran University of Medical Sciences. 1548 tissue donors were studied during a 5-year period by ELISA assays. HTLV1,2 - antibodies were tested on all donors along with other tests upon American Association of Tissue Banks [AATB] standards. 25 [1.61%] out of 1548 tissue donors were HTLV positive. 17 donors were male and 8 donors were female. Female to male ratio was approximately 47%. Regarding the prevalence of HTLV among tissue donors and importance of cell and tissue safety and quality assurance, we recommend that all cell and tissue banks should be involved with serological and other complementary tests such as PCR [Polymerase Chain Reaction] for HTLV