New biopsy after antibiotic treatment: effect on outcomes of assisted reproduction in patients with infertility and chronic endometritis.

RESEARCH QUESTION: What is the effect of chronic endometritis on patients with infertility, the necessity of endometrial re-examination and the effect of improving chronic endometritis after one cycle of antibiotic treatment on pregnancy outcomes? DESIGN: Infertile patients (n = 4003) who underwent IVF and intracytoplasmic sperm injection treatment were included. Pregnancy outcomes of groups positive for chronic endometritis were compared with groups that were negative (group 1). Patients that were positive were divided into the chronic endometritis new biopsy group (group 2) and chronic endometritis non-re-examination group (group 3). After doxycycline treatment and re-examination, the chronic endometritis new biopsy group was divided into improved chronic endometritis group (ICE) and not-improved chronic endometritis group (NICE), and their general indicators and reproductive outcomes were compared. RESULTS: No significant difference was observed in embryo implantation, early or late pregnancy loss, ectopic pregnancy, clinical pregnancy and live birth rates between groups 2 and 3. The clinical pregnancy and live birth rates in the NICE group were significantly lower than those in the ICE group (P = 0.008 and P = 0.001, respectively). After controlling for potential confounding factors, age, average number of high-quality embryos, endometrial thickness on the day of embryo transfer and number and type of embryo transfer were factors associated with live birth rates. CONCLUSIONS: Endometrial re-examination of women with chronic endometritis treated with doxycycline had no effect on pregnancy outcomes. The first cycle of doxycycline treatment could effectively improve reproductive outcomes of women with five or more CD138+ cells/high-power field.

The research on screening differentially expressed genes in Hirschsprung's disease by using Microarray.

OBJECTIVE: To study the differential expression of genes between Hirschsprung's disease (HSCR) and normal tissue by using microarray for exploring the mechanism of HSCR development and establishing the gene expression profiles of HSCR. METHODS: Colon tissues (aganglionic and normal segments) of 4 patients with HSCR were detected by the Agilent SurePrint G3 Human GE 8x60K Microarrays. RT-PCR was used to verify the results of Microarray test. Then, immunohistochemistry was used to demonstrate the expression of HAND2 in the myenteric plexus of the colon from 46 patients with HSCR to further explore the relationship between HAND2 and development of HSCR. RESULTS: A total of 12,125 meaningful expressed genes were screened out. 4 pairs of specimens had 622 differentially expressed genes, 584 (93.89%) of which were up-regulated while 38(6.11%) were down-regulated. 6 of the 622 genes were tested by RT-PCR, which were consistent with the results detected by Microarray. The average optical density of positive expression of HAND2 in myenteric plexus was compared between the aganglionic, transitional, dilated, normal segments and control group. The average optical density in the aganglionic segments was obviously reduced. Statistical analyzed data showed that it has significant deviation (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: 1. A set of differentially expressed genes between aganglionic and normal segments of HSCR was obtained. Our data may provide significant information to research the pathogenesis of HSCR. 2. Reduced protein expression of HAND2 in the myenteric plexus of the aganglionic would suggest that HAND2 was involved in the pathogenesis of HSCR.

[Infection of cytomegalovirus and herpes simplex virus and morphology of the infected spermatogenic cells in infertile men].

OBJECTIVE: To study the infection of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) and herpes simplex virus type II (HSV-I) and the morphological characteristics of the infected spermatogenic cells in the semen of infertile men. METHODS: We washed and concentrated the spermatogenic cells obtained from 83 semen samples of infertile men, extracted DNA and then screened HCMV and HSV-II by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Immunocytochemistry (ICC) was used to detect the expression of correlative virus antigens of the positive semen cells, and the cytology smear was employed to observe the morphological changes of the spermatogenic cells under the microscope after cytology staining. RESULTS: Of all the semen samples, 8 were HCMV positive, 4 HSV-II positive, but none were both HCMV and HSV-II positive. HCMV late antigens were positively and HCMV early antigens negatively expressed in the spermatogenic cells of the 8 HCMV positive cases. In the 4 HSV-II positive cases, 3 were positively and 1 weakly positively expressed. In the semen of the 12 positive cases were found large numbers of immature spermatogenic cells, with different manifestations of apoptosis, such as chromatin pycnosis, vacuoles, damaged nuclear membrane, and apoptotic bodies, but without virus infection-induced specific morphological alteration. Sperm concentration of the positive group was significantly lower than that of the negative (P < 0. 05). CONCLUSION: Spermatogenic cells infected by HCMV and HSV-II may cause pathologic lesions and affect spermatogenesis. Morphologically, the infected spermatogenic cells may undergo some pathologic alteration, such as apoptosis. The rate of HCMV infection is higher among infertile males with pathologic cells in the semen.

[Expression and action of vascular endothelial growth factor and its receptor in a rat model of retinopathy of prematurity].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its receptors (flt-1 and flk-1) in the retina of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), and its relation to the alteration of retinal blood vessels. METHODS: Eighty-six newborn Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into hyperoxia and air groups, then each group was further divided into 1, 3, 7 and 14 days subgroups. The rats in hyperoxia group inhaled 75% oxygen and ROP model was thus set up. These animals were sacrificed respectively after 1, 3, 7 and 14 days, then the retinal endothelial cells were marked by CD34 to observe the change of retinal blood vessels. The expression of VEGF, flt-1 and flk-1 in the retina was measured by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: The retinal capillary density index (RCDI) in control group increased as days went on (F = 21.589, P < 0.01, but it was the least on the 7th day in hyperoxia group, after the rats had been returned to air for 7 days, RCDI increased significantly (F = 67.885, P < 0.01); In the control group, the expression of VEGF and flk-1 was the strongest in the retina on the 7th day, the result had significant difference as compared with the 1st and 14th day (P < 0.05). The expression of VEGF and flk-1 on the 7th day in hyperoxia group was weaker than that of control group (P < 0.05). But on the 14th day in hyperoxia group, they were stronger than that of control (P < 0.05). The localization of the expression of flt-1 was changed when blood vessels altered, but there was no significant difference in expression intensity as a whole (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: When the premature retina was exposed to hyperoxia, the expression of VEGF and flk-1 was reduced, and retinal blood vessels were also decreased; but the expression of VEGF and flk-1 was stronger in retina when premature rats were exposed to relative hypoxia, and the retinal blood vessels also increased significantly. It is concluded that VEGF and flk-1 may play important roles in the development of retinal blood vessels and its change in ROP. However, flt-1 has less effect compared with flk-1.