The cytokine profiles in follicular fluid and reproductive outcomes in women with endometriosis.

PROBLEM: Endometriosis patients undergoing in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET) treatment suffer from poor oocyte quality, a reduced likelihood of the fertilization rate, and low embryo quality. The dysregulation of immune cells and cytokine profiles in the follicular fluid (FF) may play an important role in the competence of the oocyte and the development of the embryo, but the mechanism remains largely unknown. METHOD OF STUDY: A total of 40 proved advanced staged endometriosis patients were enrolled in this study. The pregnancy results were followed until all the embryos collected by the first oocyte retrieval cycle were used up. The immune cells subtypes in FF and serum collected on the day of oocyte retrieval were detected by flow cytometry and 27 cytokines were determined using the Bio-Plex Pro Human Cytokine 27-Plex Immunoassay. The specific effect of cytokine on the gene expression of human granulosa cells was determined by RT-qPCR. RESULTS: The fertilization rate and the cumulative live birth rate were significantly lower in the endometriosis group. The ratio of CD4+ /CD8+ T cells in FF was significantly lower, while the level of IP-10, RANTES and G-CSF were statistically higher in the endometriosis group. The level of IP-10 correlated with the IVF outcome. Moreover, treated by IP-10, the mRNA level of FSHR and CYP19A1 the human granulosa cells were downregulated in vitro. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that alterations of the lymphocyte subsets and cytokines in women with advanced endometriosis may have an impact on the oocyte development and resulting in poorer IVF outcomes.

Decidual-derived RANKL facilitates macrophages accumulation and residence at the maternal-fetal interface in human early pregnancy.

PROBLEM: During the first trimester, the accumulation of macrophages, which is the second largest decidual leukocyte population (~20%) at the maternal-fetal interface, is quite vital for a successful pregnancy, including embryo implantation, trophoblast invasion, and vascular remodeling. The mechanism of the enrichment and redistribution of macrophages in the uterine decidua of early pregnancy is largely unclear. METHOD OF STUDY: A total of 37 women with normal early pregnancies were included. Primary decidual macrophages (dMφs) (n = 37) and primary decidual stromal cells (DSCs) (n = 37) were isolated, and the adhesion molecules were analyzed by flow cytometry (FCM). Adhesive experiment was carried out to evaluate the adhesion capacity by counting cell numbers of dMφs adhered to DSCs in a co-culture system. RESULTS: We found that RANK+ dMφs was the dominating subtype at the maternal-fetal interface. The expression of adhesion molecules (eg, CD29, CD31, CD54, and CD62L) on the surface of RANK+ dMφs was higher than that of RANK- dMφs. After co-culture with DSCs, the expression of adhesion molecules on dMφs was up-regulated in a RANKL-dependent manner. Meanwhile, dMφs promoted the releasing of RANKL on DSCs after co-culture. Consistently, dMφs exhibited the lessoned capacity of adhesion to DSCs when blocking the crosstalk of RANKL-RANK between the DSCs and dMφs in vitro. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the interaction of RANKL-RANK up-regulates the expression of adhesion molecules on the surface of dMφs, contributing to the accumulation and residence of dMφs in human early pregnancy.

[Association of Ureaplasma urealyticum with the types of antisperm antibody in infertile men].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prevalence of Ureaplasma urealyticum (UU) infection in infertile men, its influence on routine semen parameters and the distribution of antisperm antibody (AsAb) and its types in infertile patients with UU infection. METHODS: We detected the positive rate of UU infection, semen parameters, and the distribution of AsAb and its types in 662 infertile men and 25 normal fertile male controls followed by comparison of the obtained data between the two groups of subjects. RESULTS: The positive rate of UU infection was significantly higher in the infertile men than in the normal controls (52.87% ï¼»350/662ï¼½ vs 16.00% ï¼»4/25ï¼½, χ2 = 11.68, P <0.05). The semen volume, sperm count, sperm concentration and percentage of progressively motile sperm were remarkably lower in the UU-positive infertile males than in the control group (P <0.05). No statistically significant difference was observed between the UU-positive and UU-negative groups in the positive rates of total AsAb (43.4% vs 36.5%, χ2 = 3.25, P >0.05) and AsAb IgA, IgM and IgG in the seminal plasma, or in the percentages of serum AsAb IgM (16.9% vs 20.5%, χ2 = 1.22, P >0.05) and IgG (32.7% vs 28.9%, χ2 = 0.99, P >0.05) except in that of serum AsAb IgA (23.6% vs 17.0%, χ2 = 4.03, P <0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The UU infection rate is high in infertile males, which decreases the semen volume, total sperm count, motile sperm concentration and percentage of progressively motile sperm and increases the positive rate of serum AsAb IgA.

[Sperm chromatin structure assay versus sperm chromatin dispersion test in detecting sperm DNA integrity and correlation of sperm DNA fragmentation with semen parameters].

OBJECTIVE: Sperm DNA fragmentation (SDF) is widely used to predict male infertility and the methods of detecting SDF are varied. This study aimed to compare two methods of SDF detection and investigate the correlation between SDF and sperm quality. METHODS: Using sperm chromatin structure assay (SCSA) and sperm chromatin dispersion test (SCD), we detected SDF in 108 semen samples collected in the Center of Reproduction and Genetics of Suzhou Municipal Hospital. We compared the results of the two methods and analyzed the correlations of SDF routine semen parameters, sperm morphology and the age of the patients. RESULTS: A significant consistency was found in the SDF index (DFI) between the two methods (P<0.01). The DFI was correlated negatively with sperm motility, the percentage of progressively motile sperm, and that of morphologically normal sperm (P <0.01), but positively with the teratozoospermia index (P <0.01 in SCSA and P <0.05 in SCD). The DFI measured by SCSA showed a significantly positive correlation with the patients' age (P <0.01), but not that obtained by SCD. CONCLUSIONS: The results of both SCSA and SCD play an important role in predicting sperm quality. As a clinical index, the DFI has a predictive value for male infertility. However, the results of different detecting methods vary widely, which calls for further studies on their standardization.

Fish Oil-Rich Diet Promotes Hematopoiesis and Alters Hematopoietic Niche.

The self-renewal and differentiation of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) in bone marrow are essential to replenish all blood cell types, but how this process is influenced by diet remains largely unclear. Here we show that a diet rich in fish oils promotes self-renewal of HSCs and extramedullary hematopoiesis. Chronic intake of a fish oil-rich diet increases the abundance of HSCs, alters the hematopoietic microenvironment, and, intriguingly, induces the expression of matrix metalloproteinase 12 (MMP12) in the bone marrow. Pointing to a direct effect of fish oil on MMP12 expression, omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids induce the expression of MMP12 in a dose-dependent manner in bone marrow cells. Importantly, down-regulation of MMP12 activity using an MMP12-specific inhibitor attenuates diet-induced myelopoiesis in both bone marrow and spleen. Thus, a fish oil-rich diet promotes hematopoiesis in the bone marrow and spleen, in part via the activity of MMP12. Taken together, these data provide new insights into diet-mediated regulation of hematopoiesis.