ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Perinatal asphyxia is an important cause of injury to fetal tissues such as the brain, heart, liver and gastrointestinal system. Fetal skin has also been shown to be vulnerable to intrauterine injury after intrauterine ischaemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. AIM: To examine the effect of dexamethasone on fetal skin in intrauterine I/R injury in rats. METHODS: The response of rat fetal skin to I/R injury and maternal dexamethasone treatment were assessed by determining thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), and myeloperoxidase (MPO) and nitric oxide (NO) metabolites. We also examined the ultrastructural changes of fetal skin. Bilateral utero-ovarian artery clamping was performed to produce ischaemia for 30 min in rats at day 19 of pregnancy, and reperfusion was achieved by removing the clamps for 60 min before fetal tissue was collected. The treatment group was given dexamethasone intraperitoneally 20 min before I/R was performed. RESULTS: TBARS, MPO and NO all increased significantly in fetal rat skin after I/R injury. Levels of TBARS, MPO and NO were significantly lower in the dexamethasone-treated group than in the I/R-only group. I/R injury produced ultrastructural damage in the epidermis. Oedema and mitochondrial damage were less severe in the dexamethasone-treated group. CONCLUSIONS: Maternal treatment with dexamethasone may have a protective effect on fetal skin in cases of I/R injury.
Subject(s)
Anti-Inflammatory Agents/pharmacology , Dexamethasone/pharmacology , Fetal Diseases/prevention & control , Ischemia/prevention & control , Reperfusion Injury/prevention & control , Skin/blood supply , Animals , Disease Models, Animal , Female , Fetal Diseases/metabolism , Ischemia/metabolism , Nitric Oxide/metabolism , Peroxidase/metabolism , Rats , Rats, Sprague-Dawley , Reperfusion Injury/metabolism , Skin/metabolismSubject(s)
Immunization , Rural Health , Adolescent , Adult , Age Factors , BCG Vaccine/administration & dosage , Child, Preschool , Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis Vaccine/administration & dosage , Female , Humans , Immunization Schedule , Infant , Male , Measles Vaccine/administration & dosage , Somalia , VaccinationSubject(s)
Antibodies, Bacterial/analysis , Clostridium tetani/immunology , Tetanus Toxoid , Tetanus/epidemiology , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Child , Child, Preschool , Cross-Sectional Studies , Female , Humans , Italy , Male , Middle Aged , Tetanus/immunology , Tetanus/prevention & control , Tetanus Toxoid/administration & dosageABSTRACT
Prevalence of hepatitis A antibodies among 5005 naval recruits aged 18-26 from all parts of Italy was almost double in the south and islands (83.3%) as compared to the north and central regions (45.2%). Social-demographic variables such as education and number of siblings are associated with prevalence of anti-HAV. Hepatitis A infection is still an early acquired infection in Italy, particularly in the south where among the 18-26-year-old recruits with education limited to lower middle school or less and eight siblings or more, prevalence of anti-HAV was 95%. Good correlation exists in Italy between prevalence of anti-HAV and incidence of reported cases of hepatitis.
