The effect of elevated progesterone levels before oocyte retrieval in women undergoing ovarian stimulation for IVF treatment on the genomic profile of peri-implantation endometrium.

To evaluate the effects of high progesterone prior to oocyte retrieval on the genomic profile of peri-implantation endometrium, we conducted this single-center, prospective cohort study. Depending on whether or not the progesterone level on the day of hCG administration and the day after hCG administration were elevated, a total of 20 women undergoing IVF treatment who did not have fresh embryo transfer were included: Group 1 refers to subjects with normal progesterone level on both days; Group 2 refers to subjects with normal progesterone level on the day of hCG administration and high progesterone level on the day after hCG administration; Group 3 refers to subjects with high progesterone level on the day of hCG administration and normal progesterone level on the day after hCG administration; Group 4 refers to subjects with high progesterone level on both days. Five subjects were included in each group. Endometrial samples were obtained 7days after hCG administration. We found that high progesterone level prior to oocyte retrieval predominantly affected components of the NK cell mediated cytotoxicity pathway in the endometrium and that significant differences were only seen when progesterone measurements on both the day of and day after hCG administration were considered together.

[Effects of wenhua juanbi recipe on the gene expression profile of the synovium in collagen-induced arthritic rats].

OBJECTIVE: To study the effects of Wenhua Juanbi recipe (WJR) on the gene expression profile of the synovium in collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) rats, and to explore its mechanisms for treating CIA. METHODS: The CIA model was induced by intradermal injection of bovine collagen type II emulsion from the tail of 40 healthy male Wistar rats. Selected 16 successfully modeled rats were randomly divided into the model group and the WJR-treated group, 8 in each group. WJR at the daily dose of 22.9 g/kg was given to rats in the WJR-treated group by gastrogavage, while normal saline was given to those in the model group. Both were performed once daily, for 30 successive days. By the end of medication, the total RNA was extracted from the synovium of rats in the two groups. The gene expression profile of each sample was analyzed using Illumina oligonucleotide microarray. RESULTS: Compared with the model group, after the intervention of WJR, 222 differentially expressed genes were identified in CIA rats, including 76 genes up-regulated (such as RatNP-3b and so on) and 146 downregulated (such as Angptl 2, Muc1, bcl-2, and so on). The differential genes were mainly involved with apoptosis, angiopoietin, defensin gene, cytokine, signal transduction, oncogene, etc. CONCLUSION: WJR played a role in treating CIA multi-target possibly through regulating and controlling multiple genes expressions. Wenhua Juanbi Recipe; collagen-induced arthritis; synovium; gene expression

The immunostimulating effect of bacterial genomic DNA on the innate immune responses of bivalve mussel, Hyriopsis cumingii Lea.

The genomic DNA of Escherichia coli, which contains the unmethylated CpG motif, was used to evaluate the immunostimulating effect of bacterial DNA on innate immune responses in the bivalve mussel Hyriopsis cumingii Lea. The results showed that the E. coli DNA had no significant effect on the production of superoxide anion (O(2-)) or acid phosphatase (AP) by haemocytes in vitro. However, the bactericidal activity of the haemocytes was significantly increased when the cells were incubated with 50 or 100mug/ml bacterial DNA for 12 and 24h. Antibacterial activity, lysozyme activity, and prophenoloxidase (proPO) production of haemolymph were also increased, when the bivalve molluscs were injected with 50 or 100mug/ml of bacterial DNA for 12 and 24h. These activities returned to the control level after 48h. This work showed the bacterial DNA with unmethylated CpG motif could activate some parameters of the immune system of bivalve molluscs in vivo and in vitro.