Zishen Yutai Pill (ZYP) is a frequently used traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) preparation in women’s health. However, the effects of ZYP on endometrial epithelial response have not been fully ...explored. Herein, uterine natural killer cell (uNK) secretion medium was used to mimic the uterine microenvironment. Thereafter, an endometrial epithelial cell line (Ishikawa cells) was treated with ZYP-containing serum to elucidate the effects of ZYP on endometrial receptivity.
Methods: uNK cells were isolated from decidual tissues of pregnant women undergoing pregnancy termination surgery, and thereafter, uNK secretion medium was collected. ZYP-containing serum was collected from rats after intragastrical administration of ZYP. Ishikawa cells were divided into three groups, one treated with blank control (control group), one treated with uNK secretion medium (uNK group), and one treated with both uNK secretion medium and ZYP-containing serum (ZYP + uNK group). Total RNAs were extracted. Gene expression profiles of Ishikawa in different groups were determined through microarray analysis. mRNA expressions of selected genes were determined through quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Expression of intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) was determined using Western blotting (WB).
Compared with the uNK group, the gene expressions of ZYP group with a total of 1117 genes were significantly altered, among which 510 genes were upregulated and 607 genes were downregulated. Compared with uNK group, expressions of CSF1, CSF2, SPP1, and ICAM1 were upregulated (P < 0.05). Up-regulation of ICAM-1 expression after treatment of ZYP was further confirmed by WB analysis.
In brief, in the presence of uNK cell medium, ZYP could improve the expressions of ICAM1, CSF1, CSF2, TNF, SPP1, etc. However, further exploration should be carried out in in vivo experiments for the validation of the mechanisms of ZYP on endometrial epithelial response.
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•The effects of Zishen Yutai Pill on endometrial epithelial response were explored in a simulated uterine microenvironment.•Gene expression profiles of Zishen Yutai Pill were determined through mRNA sequencing analysis.•Expressions of genes and protein relating to PI3K/Akt and TNF pathway were validated to confirm its role on endometrial epithelial response.
Abstract Objective To cryopreserve human ovarian tissue using solid-surface vitrification (SSV) technique for the first time. Study design Human ovarian slices from each of 26 patients were randomly ...allocated to fresh, SSV, and slow-freezing groups, respectively. Histological observation and the TUNEL assay of the tissue were performed after cryopreservation. In vitro culture was done to study the initial recruitment of follicles and hormone production ability after SSV/slow-freezing. Results The majority of primordial follicles were maintained intact through either SSV or the slow-freezing method. No statistically significant destructive effect of SSV or slow-freezing for primordial follicles and stromal cells was found using the TUNEL assay. In the SSV and slow-freezing groups, estradiol and progesterone were secreted continuously during 10 days in culture, and the proportions of growing follicles increased significantly comparing to the uncultured fresh group. The follicular proportions and the concentrations of estradiol and progesterone exhibited no statistically significant differences between the SSV and slow-freezing groups. Conclusion SSV is an effective, simple and inexpensive alternative for human ovarian tissue cryopreservation.
The aims of this study were to analyse the prevalence of impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) in Chinese polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) patients and to assess the ability ...of screening tests to predict these abnormalities within this population. METHODS: A total of 102 PCOS patients were evaluated. All patients underwent oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTTs) with blood samples taken at 0, 1 and 2 h. The 2-h plasma glucose level was used to categorize subjects as having IGT or NIDDM. RESULTS: The prevalence of IGT was 20.5% and that of NIDDM was 1.9%. There was no significant relationship between BMI and 2-h plasma glucose levels. The areas under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for glucose to insulin ratio (G : I), homeostasis model assessment (HOMA) and quantitative insulin sensitivity check index (QUICKI) were 0.702, 0.734 and 0.733 respectively. ROC analysis suggested a threshold value of 10.7 in G : I ratio (73.9% sensitivity and 59.5% specificity), a value of 2.14 in HOMA (73.9% sensitivity and 73.4% specificity) and a value of 0.34 in QUICKI (73.9% sensitivity and 73.4% specificity) for the prediction of abnormal glucose tolerance (IGT and NIDDM). CONCLUSIONS: Chinese women with PCOS are at increased risk of IGT and NIDDM. Even though G : I, HOMA and QUICKI are easier than OGTT, they could not replace the role of 2-h post-challenge plasma glucose level in the screening of IGT and NIDDM in PCOS women.
Protein and antibody arrays have emerged as a promising technology to study protein expression and protein function in a high-throughput manner. These arrays also represent a new opportunity to ...profile protein expression levels in cancer patients' samples and to identify useful biosignatures for clinical diagnosis, disease classification, prediction, drug development and patient care. We applied antibody arrays to discover a panel of proteins which may serve as biomarkers to distinguish between patients with ovarian cancer and normal controls.
Using a case-control study design of 34 ovarian cancer patients and 53 age-matched healthy controls, we profiled the expression levels of 174 proteins using antibody array technology and determined the CA125 level using ELISA. The expression levels of those proteins were analyzed using 3 discriminant methods, including artificial neural network, classification tree and split-point score analysis. A panel of 5 serum protein markers (MSP-alpha, TIMP-4, PDGF-R alpha, and OPG and CA125) was identified, which could effectively detect ovarian cancer with high specificity (95%) and high sensitivity (100%), with AUC =0.98, while CA125 alone had an AUC of 0.87.
Our pilot study has shown the promising set of 5 serum markers for ovarian cancer detection.
Abstract Objective To evaluate the effect of hyperandrogenism on metabolic disorders among patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) diagnosed using the Rotterdam criteria. Methods A ...retrospective analysis of the clinical records of 883 women with PCOS and 717 premenopausal controls identified from the general population. Results A total of 686 (77.7%) patients were classified with PCOS based on National Institutes of Health (NIH) criteria, and 164 out of 197 (83.2%) additional patients had no hyperandrogenism. Women with normal androgen levels exhibited lower frequencies of obesity, type 2 diabetes, acanthosis nigricans, genetic history of diabetes, and elevated Matsuda index compared with hyperandrogenic patients. Hyperandrogenemia, but not hirsutism, was independently associated with the risk for type 2 diabetes (odds ratio OR 5.7; P = 0.028) and obesity (OR 1.7; P = 0.005) among Chinese patients with PCOS. Conclusions Hyperandrogenemia is associated with type 2 diabetes and obesity in Chinese women with PCOS and should be considered at first-line management of hyperandrogenism and infertility due to PCOS.
Objective(s)
To determine the normative cut‐off value for the free androgen index (FAI) among reproductive‐age women in China.
Design
Cross‐sectional, population‐based study.
Setting
A multistage ...systematic cluster random sampling among 16 communities from two rural and two city regions.
Patient(s)
A total of 1526 women were randomly selected from a representative sample of 3009 women aged 20–45 years from the general population of southern China. Among these women, 444 subjects without known factors affecting androgen levels were selected as the reference group.
Intervention(s)
Subjects underwent physical examination, blood tests of hormone and metabolic profiles, and ultrasound evaluations.
Measurement of the main outcomes
The FAI was calculated according to the following equation: FAI = 100 × total testosterone (nmol/l)/sex hormone‐binding globulin (nmol/l). The normative cut‐off value of the FAI was computed based on the 5th–95th percentiles and K‐means cluster analysis (K = 2).
Results
A reference range of 0·7–6·4 of the FAI was indicated by the 5th and 95th percentiles. K‐means cluster analysis identified 6·1 as the cut‐off value for the FAI in the total population, which was close to the upper limit determined by the 95th percentile. Hyperandrogenic women present with elevated risk factors for metabolic disorders. The mean FAI values decreased with age among the total population, as evaluated by either K‐means clustering or a percentile analysis. The FAI value was negatively correlated with age (r = −0·185, P < 0·0001) and positively correlated with body mass index after adjustment for age (r = 0·250, P < 0·0001).
Conclusion
A reference range of 0·7–6·4 FAI was indicated by the 5th and 95th percentiles among the reference group, which excluded the subjects with factors known to affect androgen levels; 6·1 was identified by the K‐means cluster analysis as the cut‐off value of the FAI for the general population. Hyperandrogenic women present with higher risks for metabolic disorders.
Abstract Objectives To explore the clinical and metabolic features exhibited by Chinese adolescents with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and to determine the differences between nonobese and obese ...adolescent patients with PCOS. Design Clinical cross-sectional study. Setting Department of Gynecology and Reproductive Center. Participants 25 obese and 66 nonobese adolescents with PCOS and 26 age-matched controls. Interventions Fasting venous blood samples and an oral glucose tolerance test using 75 g of glucose were obtained from PCOS patients and controls. Main Outcome Measures Clinical features were summarized. Serum levels of FSH, LH, E2 , TT, SHBG, fasting insulin, and fasting glucose were measured. Results The prevalence of obesity in adolescents with PCOS was 27% (25/91). 99% of these patients presented with menstrual disorders, 84% presented with clinical and/or biochemical hyperandrogenism, and 90% exhibited an ultrasonographic appearance of polycystic ovaries. The prevalence of hirsutism and acanthosis nigricans were higher in the obese PCOS group than in the nonobese PCOS group (72% vs 41% and 44% vs 5%, respectively). A total of 5 of 20 obese (25%) and 5 of 36 nonobese patients (14%) demonstrated impaired glucose tolerance levels. Conclusions Chinese adolescents with PCOS manifest clinical and metabolic features similar to those of adult Chinese women with PCOS except for the increased prevalence of hyperandrogenism and insulin resistance. Adolescents with high risk factors, especially those with menstrual disorders and hyperandrogenism, may need careful clinical screening.
Recruitment of primordial follicles is essential for female fertility. Some of the intraovarian growth factors involved in the initiation of primordial follicle growth have been identified, but the ...exact mechanisms regulating follicle activation are poorly understood. Strong evidence indicates that vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), a neuropeptide found in ovarian nerves, plays a role in the physiology of follicle development and function. The aim of the present study was to determine whether VIP might regulate the activation and growth of neonatal rat primordial follicles in an in vitro culture system. Ovaries from 4-day-old rats were cultured for 14 days in medium containing 10(-7) M VIP. At the end of the culture, the developmental stages and viability of the follicles were evaluated using histological sections. Immunohistochemistry studies for proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) were performed to assess the mitotic activity of granulosa cells. In addition, the expression level of kit ligand (KL) mRNA was examined after culture. Histology showed that primordial follicles could survive and start to grow in vitro. The proportion of primordial follicles was decreased and the proportion of early primary follicles increased after in vitro culture with VIP. Immunolocalization of PCNA showed that follicle growth was initiated after VIP treatment. The expression level of KL mRNA was increased in the VIP treatment group. Thus, VIP can promote primordial follicle development, possibly mediated in part through upregulating the expression of KL.
Aim: The apolipoprotein B/apolipoprotein A1 (ApoB/ApoA1) ratio is well known to be related to metabolic syndrome (MS) and its components in adults of different races. There is low prevalence of MS ...but high occurrence of various metabolic disorders in Chinese adolescent women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). We sought to assess if the ApoB/ApoA1 ratio can be used as a predictive marker of MS and pre‐MS in Chinese adolescent women with PCOS.
Material and Methods: This cross‐sectional study included 160 Chinese adolescent women. Based on International Diabetes Federation criteria for MS, patients who had no less than two components of MS but did not meet the criteria for the diagnosis of MS were considered as having pre‐MS.
Results: The ApoB/ApoA1 ratio was higher in obese subjects with high free androgen index (FAI). The ApoB/ApoA1 ratio increased significantly as the number of MS components increased and provided 87.5% of sensitivity and 78.9% of specificity with a threshold value of 0.63 for MS, 86.2% of sensitivity and 79.4% of specificity with a threshold value of 0.58 for pre‐MS in Chinese adolescent women with PCOS.
Conclusion: The ApoB/ApoA1 ratio was a good predictive marker of MS and pre‐MS in Chinese adolescent women with PCOS. FAI could be involved in obesity‐related metabolic abnormalities.
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