C-kit expression in spermatogonia damaged by doxorubicin exposure in mice.

AIM: The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between chronically impaired spermatogenesis induced by exposing mice to doxorubicin (DXR) and expression of the infertility factor c-kit. METHOD: Eight-week-old male Institute for Cancer Research (ICR) mice were intraperitoneally treated with DXR (0.15 mg/kg, DXR group) or saline (0.15 mg/kg, control group) twice weekly for five weeks and were killed 14 weeks after initial exposure. The animals were sacrificed and bilateral testes were removed and weighed. The testes were stored for the mRNA assay and were fixed for immunohistochemistry. Some testicular samples were fixed in 10% formalin for histopathological examination. RESULTS: Testicular weight (67.6 ± 9.7 mg, P < 0.05), sperm motility (18 ± 6.0%, P < 0.05) and the fertilization rate (2-to-16-cell embryos, 5%; P < 0.05) were significantly lower in the DXR group than in the control group. In the DXR group there was severe tissue damage from the spermatogonia onward, and the Sertoli cell ratio was lower in the DXR group than in the control group (38% vs. 9%, P < 0.05). In addition, there was a decrease in c-kit protein expression, and the amount of c-kit messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) expression according to a semiquantitative method was also decreased. CONCLUSION: Expression of c-kit in the mice with chronically impaired spermatogenesis induced by long-term, low-dose administration of DXR correlated with the decrease in the number of spermatogonia.

Guidelines for office gynecology in Japan: Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Japan Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists 2011 edition.

Gynecology in the office setting is developing worldwide. Clinical guidelines for office gynecology were first published by the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Japan Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in 2011. These guidelines include a total of 72 clinical questions covering four areas (Infectious disease, Malignancies and benign tumors, Endocrinology and infertility, and Healthcare for women). These clinical questions were followed by several answers, backgrounds, explanations and references covering common problems and questions encountered in office gynecology. Each answer with a recommendation level of A, B or C has been prepared based principally on evidence or consensus among Japanese gynecologists.These guidelines would promote a better understanding of the current standard care practices for gynecologic outpatients in Japan.

Haplotype analysis of the estrogen receptor 1 gene in male genital and reproductive abnormalities.

BACKGROUND: We have recently suggested that homozygosity for a specific 'AGATA' haplotype within a approximately 50 kb linkage disequilibrium (LD) block of the gene for estrogen receptor alpha (ESR1) may raise the susceptibility to cryptorchidism by enhancing estrogenic effects of environmental endocrine disruptors (EEDs). METHODS: Haplotype analysis of ESR1 was performed in 328 Japanese subjects, i.e. 70 patients with micropenis (MP), 43 patients with hypospadias (HS), 80 patients with spermatogenic failure (SF) and 135 control males. Genotyping was performed by the 5' nuclease assay. RESULTS: The LD block was identified in each of the patient groups and in the control males. The frequency of homozygotes for the specific 'AGATA' haplotype was markedly higher in the HS patients [P = 0.0000033, odds ratio [OR] = 11.26] and slightly higher in the MP patients (P = 0.034, OR = 3.64) than in the control males, and the 'AGATA' haplotype was strongly associated with HS (P = 0.0000022, OR = 11.26) and weakly associated with MP (P = 0.040, OR = 3.64) in a recessive mode. There was no significant difference between the SF patients and the control males. CONCLUSIONS: Our results support the hypothesis that homozygosity for the specific ESR1 'AGATA' haplotype may increase the susceptibility to the development of male genital abnormalities in response to estrogenic EEDs.