Diagnosis of bacteriospermia and its impact on spermogram parameters in adolescents with varicocele.

Infectious etiology is the cause of about 15% of cases of male infertility. And if sexually transmitted infections are easily diagnosed, the role of asymptomatic bacteriospermia in the formation of infertility in men, and especially in adolescents against the background of the existing pathology of the reproductive sphere (varicocele), remains insufficiently studied. A microbiological study in the ejaculate of adolescents revealed the following types of bacteria: Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis, Corynebacterium glucuronolyticum, Corynebacterium minitissimum, Streptococcus anginosus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus haemolyticus. Bacteria in the ejaculate were also detected during semen analysis and electron microscopic examination of spermatozoa. With abundant growth of microorganisms in a monoculture or an association of two microorganisms present in a moderate amount, in all cases, violations of sperm motility, an increase in the viscosity of the ejaculate, the presence of leukocytes in the seminal fluid were detected, and damage to the chromatin, acrosome and mitochondria was recorded at the ultrastructural level, which may indicate active infection. When bacterial flora was detected in a small and moderate amount (<10 CFU/ml), no pathological changes in the ejaculate were observed. The microflora of the ejaculate of the examined adolescents is represented by gram-positive microflora. Simultaneous study of the ejaculate sample by bacteriological seeding, the performance of spermogram and EMIS allowed to increase the detection of bacteriospermia. Opportunistic pathogens with abundant growth or their various combinations can serve as a factor in the development of pathospermia. It is possible to distinguish an active infection from commensal microflora or sample contamination not only by the presence of bacteria in the ejaculate and their quantitative accounting, but also by the degree of damage to the function of spermatozoa and pathological changes in the parameters of the ejaculate, by combining diagnostic methods. Most often, in the presence of bacteria in the ejaculate, asthenozoospermia is diagnosed.

Interaction of iron oxide Fe3O4 nanoparticles and alveolar macrophages in vivo.

Aqueous suspension of magnetite nanoparticles with primary diameter of 10 nm were intratracheally administered into rat lungs. In 24 h, cells were isolated from bronchoalveolar lavage and examined under a transmission electron microscope. Alveolar macrophages demonstrated ability to actively uptake single nanoparticles and small aggregates composed of such particles, which then formed larger conglomerates inside fused phagosomes. Some of these mature phagosomes shed the membrane and free nanoparticles closely interacted with nuclear membrane and with cristae and mitochondrial membranes thereby inflicting pronounced damage to these intracellular structures. The loss of primary lysosomes can be viewed as indirect evidence attesting to the role played by diffusion of lysosomal hydrolytic enzymes in the final destruction of the alveolar macrophages provoked by nanoparticles.

[Comparative experimental assessment of the impact of gold and silver nanoparticles on the phagocyting cells of the lower airways].

Judging by the cytological characteristics of the free cell population of the lower airways obtained with assistance of the bronchoalveolar lavage in 24 hours after the intratracheal instillation of equal doses of equidimensional gold or silver nanoparticles, both metals result in active recruitment of phagocytes with domination of neutrophile leukocytes, especially marked after the instillation of the nanosilver. The higher ratio of these cells count to that of alveolar macrophages gives evidence for the significantly higher cytotoxicity of the nanosilver comparing with both nanogold and even the smallest silver particles in the micrometric range. Transmission electron microscopy demonstrates similar pictures of intracellular distribution and ultra-structural damages caused by internalized nanoparticles in both types of phagocytes, while there are significant differences between cells under impact of nanosilver vs. those under impact of nanogold. The highest importance is higher propensity of the nanosilver particles to aggregation and to ingression into mitochondria with damaging these organelles.