Expression of estrogen receptor alpha in the testis of infertile men with spermatogenic arrest / 中华男科学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the association of spermatogenic arrest with the expression of estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha) in human testes.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>We examined the testicular biopsy specimens of 120 infertile men by HE staining, detected the expression of ERalpha in the specimens of those with spermatogenic arrest by the two-step immunohistochemical method, and compared the results with those of 10 healthy men.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Of the 120 specimens from the infertile men, 31 (25.8%) met the diagnostic criteria of spermatogenic arrest. In the testis tissue of normal men, ERalpha expressed in Sertoli, myoid and Leydig cells, but not in spermatogenic cells, while in the testis tissues of those with spermatogenic arrest, ERalpha expressed lowly in Sertoli, myoid and Leydig cells, with statistically significant differences in immunostaining intensity between the two groups (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Androgen receptor (AR) and ERalpha may play a coordinating role in facilitating spermatogenesis. Spermatogenic arrest may be related to a complex series of disorders in cell signal transduction involving AR, ERalpha and HSP90.</p>

Comparison of the transcriptional levels of mannitol PTS operon between epidemic and non-epidemic strains of Vibrio cholerae / 中国医学科学院学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To compare the transcription difference of the mannitol PTS genes between epidemic and non-epidemic strains of Vibrio cholerae El Tor in mannitol ferment tests.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Growth curves of 10 epidemic strains (slow-ferment) and 10 non-epidemic strains (rapid-ferment) of Vibrio cholerae were detected in the process of fermentation test, and the transcriptional level of mannitol PTS operon of these strains were determined with quantitative reverse-transcriptional PCR.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>After 4 hours of test, the non-epidemic strains became positive and the average growth density of the non-epidemic strains was higher than that of the epidemic strains; however, some were still lower than the epidemic strains. In contrast, at the eighth hour of test, when epidemic strains got positive, they showed higher average growth density. Compared to the epidemic strains, the transcription of mannitol PTS genes of the non-epidemic strains were much more active at the 1st and 2nd hour and were lower at the 4th and 8th hour.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The difference of mannitol PTS operon transcription level should be an important feature to identify the epidemic and non-epidemic strains of Vibrio cholerae, which directly influences the mannitol fermentation rate during the test. The growth rate is not a key factor that affect such difference.</p>