Analysis of the Causes of Total Fertilization Failure in Vitro Fertilization-Embryo Transfer / 现代生物医学进展

Fertilization is a crucial step for origin of life.During Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART),total fertilization failure is complex and unpredictable.Total fertilization failure may related to some abnormal cellular mechanistic events,such as:any stage of sperm and cumulus-oocyte-complexes penetration,sperm-zona pellucida binding / penetration,sperm-oocyte membrane binding,oocyte activation,sperm discondensation or pronuclear formation.Most of total fertilization failure could be solved by intracytoplasmic sperm injection.But oocytes of some patient still can't fertilize successfully,even though assisted oocyte activation be used.As for total fertilization failure patients in ART,combining the mature of oocyte,sperm quality and some trail to improve clinical protocol in later cycle may prevent failure to happen again.

Effect of bone morphogenetic protein-4 on the proliferation and differentiation of rat hepatic precursor cells / 中南大学学报(医学版)

OBJECTIVE@#To determine the regulation effect of bone morphogenetic protein-4 (BMP-4) on the proliferation and differentiation of rat hepatic precursor cells.@*METHODS@#We used Noggin (200 ng/mL) as the function blocking control of BMP-4, and the hepatic precursor cells of WB-F344 were treated with recombinant BMP-4 at 50 ng/mL at different time points. The proliferation of WB-F344 cells were tested by methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) colorimetric assay. The ultrastructural characters of differentiated WB-F344 cells regulated by BMP-4 were observed under a transmission electron microscope. RT-PCR was used to examine mRNA expression of specific molecular markers for different cellular phenotypes potentially differentiated from the WB-F344 cells.@*RESULTS@#At different time points, the absorbance values in the BMP-4 treatment groups were higher than those in the control groups of Noggin and blank treatment (P<0.01). The WB-F344 cells treated with BMP-4 exhibited typical ultrastructural characters of well-differentiated epithelial cells. The hepatocyte mRNA markers were more significantly promoted in the differentiated WB-F344 cells in the BMP-4 treatment group than those in the other 2 control groups.@*CONCLUSION@#BMP-4 can promote the proliferation and directional differentiation towards hepatocytes of rat hepatic precursor cells of WB-F344.

Treatment of acute liver injury by intrasplenic transplantation of hepatic stem cells combined with heparin in rats / 中南大学学报(医学版)

OBJECTIVE@#To determine the treatment effects of transplanted hepatic progenitor cells (WB-F344 cells) combined with heparin on the acute liver injury in SD rats.@*METHODS@#A total of 2*10(7) hepatic stem cells (WB-F344) infected with GFP lentivirus and 8 μL heparin were transplanted through the spleen in SD rats with acute liver injury, which was induced by an intraperitoneal injection of CCl4. The liver and spleen tissues underwent fluorescence examination 1 day after the transplantation. The liver functions were tested, and the liver tissues were histopathologically examined on the 3rd, 7th, 14th, and 28th day of the cell transplantation.@*RESULTS@#The transfected WB-F344 cells expressed GFP 3 days after the lentivirus infection and were found in the rat liver 1 day after the WB-F344 transplantation. The liver function and histopathological recovery of the liver tissues in the group of WB-F344 transplantation were better than those of the control group (P<0.05).@*CONCLUSION@#Transplantation of hepatic stem cells combined with heparin can promote the liver recovery in rats with acute liver injury induced by CCl4.