METHODS: Female Sprague-Dawley rats were ovariectomized and received 3-days estradiol-17β benzoate (E2) plus genistein (25, 50, or 100 mg kg(-1) day(-1) ) or 3-days E2 followed by 3-days E2 plus progesterone with genistein (25, 50, or 100 mg kg(-1) day(-1) ). A day after last treatment, uterine fluid secretion rate was determined by in vivo uterine perfusion with rats under anesthesia. Animals were sacrificed and uteri were harvested and subjected for histological analyses. Luminal/outer uterine circumference was determined and distribution of AQP-1, 2, 5, and 7 in endometrium was visualized by immunofluorescence. Expression of AQP-1, 2, 5, and 7 proteins and mRNAs were determined by Western blotting and Real-time PCR respectively.
RESULTS: Combined treatment of E2 with high dose genistein (50 and 100 mg kg(-1) day(-1) ) resulted in significant decrease in uterine fluid volume, secretion rate and expression of AQP-1, 2, 5, and 7 proteins and mRNAs in uterus (p
METHODS: Thirty-two female Sprague Dawley rats at age 21-days old were administered intraperitoneally with N-Methyl-N-Nitroso Urea (NMU), dosed at 70mg/kg body weight. The rats were divided into 4 groups; Group 1 (Control, n=8), Group 2 (Sirolimus, n=8), Group 3 (Sunitinib, n=8) and Group 4 (Sirolimus+Sunitinib, n=8), being treated twice when the tumor reached the size of 14.5±0.5 mm and subsequently sacrificed after 5 days. The protein expressions of ER, PgR and HER2/neu of the tumor tissues were evaluated by using immunohistochemistry analysis.
RESULTS: Treatment with sirolimus alone lowered expressions of ER and PgR of breast cancer and reduced tumor size. There was no significant difference of ER and PgR expressions between control and sunitinib treated tumor. Sunitinib treated tumors reduce in diameter after the first treatment, however the diameter increases after the second treatment. Histologically, sunitinib treated tumor did not show any aggressive invasive carcinoma of no special type (NST) histological subtypes. In addition, all NMU-induced tumors are HER2/neu-negative scoring.
CONCLUSION: Sirolimus is neither synergistic nor additive with sunitinib for breast cancer treatment.
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METHODS: In this study, twenty one healthy prepubertal female buffaloes aged 8 months were divided into seven groups of 3 buffaloes each (G1-G7). Group 1 (G1) served as the negative control group and were inoculated orally with 10 mL sterile Phosphate Buffer Saline (PBS), groups 2 (G2) and 3 (G3) were inoculated orally and subcutaneously with 10 mL of 10(12) colony forming unit (cfu) of P.multocida type B: 2, while groups 4 (G4) and 5 (G5) received 10 mL of bacterial LPS orally and intravenously, respectively. Lastly, groups 6 (G6) and 7 (G7) were orally and subcutaneously inoculated with 10 mL of bacterial OMPs. Whole blood was collected in EDTA vials at stipulated time points (0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 24, 36, 48, 72, 120, 168, 216, 264, 312, 360, 408, 456 and 504 h), while tissue sections of the pituitary glands were collected and transported to the histopathology laboratory in 10% buffered formalin for processing and Hematoxylin and eosin staining. Plasma levels of luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), progesterone (PG), estradiol (EST) and gonadotrophin releasing hormone (GnRH) were determined.
RESULTS: The histopathological lesions observed in the pituitary gland included hemorrhage, congestion, inflammatory cell infiltration, hydropic degeneration, necrosis and edema. These changes were higher (p
MATERIALS AND METHODS: An extensive systematic electronic review (PUBMED, CINAHL, PsyINFO and Ovid) and handsearch were carried out to retrieve published articles up to November 2012, using Depression OR Dysthymia AND (Cancer OR Tumor OR Neoplasms as the keywords. Information about the design of the studies, measuring scale, characteristics of the participants, prevalence of depression and its associated factors from the included studies were extracted and summarized.
RESULTS: We identified 32 eligible studies that recruited 10,826 breast cancer survivors. Most were cross-sectional or prospective designed. The most frequent instrument used to screen depression was the Center for Epidemiological Studies for Depression (CES-D, n=11 studies) followed by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI, n=6 studies) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS, n=6 studies). CES-D returned about similar prevalence of depression (median=22%, range=13-56%) with BDI (median=22%, range=17-48%) but higher than HADS (median=10%, range=1-22%). Depression was associated with several socio-demographic variables, cancer-related factors, treatment-related factors, subject psychological factors, lifestyle factors, social support and quality of life.
CONCLUSIONS: Breast cancer survivors are at risk for depression so that detection of associated factors is important in clinical practice.
METHODS: Ovariectomized adult female WKY rats were treated with different doses of estrogen (0.2, 2, 20 μg/kg), progesterone (4mg) and testosterone (125 & 250μg/kg) for three consecutive days. At the end of the treatment, the animals were sacrificed and the patellar tendon and lateral collateral ligament were harvested for mRNA and protein expression analyses by Real Time PCR and Western blotting respectively.
RESULTS: RXFP1, the main isoform expressed in these knee structures and RXFP2 showed a dose-dependent increase in expression with estrogen. Progesterone treatment resulted in an increase while testosterone caused a dose-dependent decrease in the mRNA and protein expression of both relaxin receptor isoforms.
DISCUSSION: Progesterone and high dose estrogen up-regulate while testosterone down-regulates RXFP1 and RXFP2 expression in the patellar tendon and lateral collateral ligament of rat's knee.
CONCLUSION: Relaxin receptor isoforms up-regulation by progesterone and high dose estrogen could provide the basis for the reported increase in knee laxity while down-regulation of these receptor isoforms by testosterone could explain low incidence of non-contact knee injury in male.
Materials and Methods: Twenty-four: Sprague Dawley rats were equally distributed into the following four groups: G1 (control), G2, G3, and G4 represented the groups treated with EBN at graded concentrations of 0, 30, 60, and 120 mg/kg body weight (BW) per day for 8 weeks, respectively. During the experimental period, the BW of each rat was recorded weekly. At the proestrus stage of estrous cycle, blood samples were collected from the hearts of anesthetized rats that were later sacrificed. The uteri were removed for histological and immunohistochemical analyses.
Results: The EBN-treated groups showed an increase in the weights and lengths of uteri as compared to the control. Results showed that relative to G1 and G2, G3 and G4 exhibited proliferation in their uterine luminal and glandular epithelia and uterine glands, and up-regulated expressions of EGF, REGF, VEGF, PCNA, and progesterone receptor, and estrogen receptor in their uteri. The EBN increased the antioxidant (AO) and total AO capacities and reduced the oxidative stress (OS) levels in non-pregnant rats.
Conclusion: Findings of this study revealed that EBN promotes proliferation of the uterine structures as evidenced by the upregulation of the expressions of steroid receptors, EGF, REGF, VEGF, and PCNA in the uterus and increased in the plasma concentrations of AO and reduced levels of OS.
METHODS: Two rat models were used: (i) ovariectomised, sex-steroid replaced and (ii) intact, at different phases of oestrous cycle. A day after completion of sex-steroid treatment or following identification of oestrous cycle phases, rats were sacrificed and expression and distribution of these proteins in uterus were identified by Western blotting and immunohistochemistry, respectively.
RESULTS: Expression of TRα-1, TRβ-1, TSHR, VDR, RAR and ERK1/2 in uterus was higher following estradiol (E2) treatment and at estrus phase of oestrous cycle when E2levels were high. A relatively lower expression was observed following progesterone (P) treatment and at diestrus phases of oestrous cycle when P levels were high. Under E2influence, TRα, TRβ, TSHR, VDR, RAR and ERK1/2 were distributed in luminal and glandular epithelia while under P influence, TSHR, VDR abn RAR were distributed in the stroma.
CONCLUSIONS: Differential expression and distribution of TRα-1, TRβ-1, TSHR, VDR, RAR and ERK1/2 in different uterine compartments could explain differential action of thyroid hormone, TSH, vitamin D, and retinoic acid in uterus under different sex-steroid conditions.
METHODS: Fertile women and women with unexplained infertility but having regular 28-day menstrual cycles were chosen in this study, Day-22 serum progesterone levels were determined. In the meantime, serum FSH and LH levels were determined on day 2 while, cervical flushing was performed at day 14 to analyse changes in the cervical fluid pH, osmolarity, Na+ and Cl- levels. Meanwhile, cells retrieved from cervical fluid were subjected to mRNA expression and protein distribution analysis for CFTR, AQP and ENaC by qPCR and immunofluorescence, respectively.
RESULTS: No significant changes in serum progesterone, FSH and LH levels were observed between the two groups. However, cervical fluid pH, osmolarity, Na+ and Cl- levels were significantly lower in primary unexplained infertile group when compared to fertile group. Expression of CFTR and AQP (AQP 1, AQP 2, AQP 5 and AQP 7) in endocervical cells was lower and expression of β-ENaC was higher in primary unexplained infertile women (p