The effect of Folic Acid, B12, D, and E Vitamins and Melatonin levels in the follicular fluid taken by the Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection method on pregnancy.

Objective: It has been demonstrated that the composition of the follicular fluid and many internal/external factors affect success in subfertile couples undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). We examined the effect of folic acid, B12, D, and E vitamins and melatonin values in follicular fluid on pregnancy in women with low, normal, and high ovarian reserves who underwent ICSI. Methods: Our study was conducted at Samsun Medical Park Hospital between January 2021 and February 2022. Follicular fluid induction samples were taken from 96 infertile women with low, normal, and high ovarian reserve, and ICSI was applied. Folic acid, B12, D, and E vitamins and melatonin levels were measured in follicular fluid samples by ELISA method. Statistical analyzes were done with SPSS, and ROC curve analyses were used. Results: Nine people with poor reserve, 19 people with normal reserve and 14 people with high reserve became pregnant. Folic acid, Vitamin-D, B12, E and melatonin levels were lower in those with poor ovarian reserve than in those with normal and high ovarian reserve (p<0.05). According to the pregnancy test, the probability of pregnancy was 43,783 times higher with high levels of folic acid, while it was 8,096 times higher for vitamin D. While vitamin B12 levels were 31,474 times more likely to be pregnancies, vitamin E levels were 35,227 times higher. For melatonin, the values showed that the probability of pregnancy increased by 11,564 times. Conclusions: High antioxidants may increase the likelihood of conception in infertile women undergoing ICSI. Therefore, couples who will be treated should be advised to increase these markers, especially melatonin in the follicular fluid.

Curcumin Attenuates Nonylphenol-Induced Toxicity In Brain Development; An Experimental Study.

OBJECTIVE: Nonylphenol is an alkylphenol compound that has been widely used in the industry. It has endocrine-disrupting properties. The effect of alkylphenol compounds on development has been the subject of a limited number of studies. Herein, we aimed to examine curcumin's effect against nonylphenol toxicity on brain development. METHODS: For this study, 30 pregnant female Wistar albino rats from the Animal Laboratory of Erciyes University, Faculty of Medicine, were used. The rats were randomly divided into the following 5 groups; the control group, corn oil group (150µl/kg/day), nonylphenol group (50µl/kg/day), curcumin group (100mg/kg/day) and curcumin+nonylphenol group (100mg/kg/day+50 µl/kg/day). After the sacrification, histological and immunohistochemical evaluations were made. RESULTS: Histopathologically, vascular congestion, increased GFAP, and p-tau immunoreactivity intensity was found in the developing brain of the nonylphenol group. Moreover, co-treatment of nonylphenol administrated with curcumin showed slight pathological alterations with vascular congestion. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that nonylphenol-induced increase in GFAP and p-tau immunoreactivity contributes to toxicity caused impairment in the rat brain. Additionally, curcumin had a neuroprotective effect against nonylphenol-induced neurotoxicity.

Investigation of the effects of umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells and curcumin on Achilles tendon healing - can they act synergistically?

BACKGROUND: It is known that curcumin and umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSCs) positively affect experi-mental tendon injury healing. This study investigated individual effects and potential synergistic effects of using curcumin and UC-MSCs alone and together. METHODS: Eighty female Wistar albino rats were randomly divided into five groups: Control, curcumin, sesame oil, MSCs, and Curcumin+MSCs groups. In all rats, punch tendon defect was created in both right and left Achilles tendons. While no additional treatment was applied to the control group, curcumin, sesame oil used as a solvent for curcumin, MSCs, and MSCs and curcumin com-bination were applied locally to the injury site, respectively, in the other groups. Curcumin was solved in sesame oil before application. In each group, half of the animals were euthanized in the post-operative 2nd week while the other half were euthanized in the post-operative 4th week. The right Achilles was used for biomechanical testing, while the left Achilles was used for histological evaluation and immunohistochemical analysis of type I, Type III collagen, and tenomodulin. RESULTS: Histologically, significant improvement was observed in the curcumin, MSCs, and Curcumin+ MSCs groups compared to the control Group in the 2nd week. In the 2nd and 4th weeks, Type III collagen was significantly increased in the curcumin group com-pared to the control group. In week 4, tenomodulin increased significantly in the curcumin and MSCs groups compared to the control group. Tendon tensile strength increased significantly in MSCs and Curcumin+MSCs groups compared to the control group in the 4th week. No superiority was observed between the treatment groups regarding their positive effects on recovery. CONCLUSION: Locally used curcumin and UC-MSCs showed positive effects that were not superior to each other in the healing of injury caused by a punch in the Achilles tendons of rats. However, synergistic effects on healing were not observed when they were applied together.

Use of selenium to ameliorate doxorubicin induced hepatotoxicity by targeting pro-inflammatory cytokines.

Doxorubicin (DOX) is a widely used drug for the treatment of cancer,but its clinical use is limited by its liver toxicity. Administering DOX with an antioxidant has become a strategy for preventing the side effects of DOX. Although selenium (Se) is an important trace mineral, data concerning the effect of Se on DOX induced liver tissue are lacking. We investigated the mechanism of DOX hepatotoxicity and the protective effect of different doses of Se on Dox induced liver damage. Female Wistar albino rats were divided into eight equal groups. Se was injected intraperitoneally (i.p.) to rats at doses of 0.5, 1, and 2 mg 0.5 h after injection i.p. of 5 mg/kg DOX on days 1, 7, 14, 21 and 28. Liver histopathology was assessed to determine the dose at which Se may best inhibit Dox induced liver toxicity. Also, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß) expression levels and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) activity were determined using immunohistochemistry. We found that DOX caused liver damage and increased TNF-α, IL-1ß and PCNA levels. Se prevented structural damage to liver tissues. Our findings reinforce the protective effects of Se in rat liver.

The effect of erythropoietin and umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells on nerve regeneration in rats with sciatic nerve injury.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate the effects of umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells and erythropoietin on nerve regeneration in the sciatic nerve 'crush injury' in a rat model. METHODS: Experimental animals were randomly divided into 5 groups: Crush Injury, Sham, Crush Injury + Erythropoietin, Crush Injury + Mesenchymal Stem Cell, Crush Injury + Erythropoietin + Mesenchymal Stem Cell groups. Crush injury made with bulldog clamp. Mesencyhmal stem cells delivered by enjection locally. Erythropoietin administered by intraperitoneally. On the 0th, 14th and 28th days, all groups underwent a sciatic functional index test. On 28th day, sciatic nerves were harvested and histopathological appearance, axon number and axon diameter of the sciatic nerves were evaluated with Oil Red O staining. Immunoreactivity of nerve growth factor, neurofilament-H and caspase-3 were determined by immunofluorescence staining in nerve tissue. RESULTS: In histopathological examination, axons and nerve bundles exhibiting normal nerve architecture in the Sham group. Crush Injury + Mesenchymal Stem Cell group has similar histological appearance to the Sham group. The number of axons were higher in the Mesenchymal Stem Cell groups compared to the Crush Injury group. Nerve growth factor immunoreactivity intensity was significantly lower in Crush Injury + Mesenchymal Stem Cell group compared to Crush Injury group. Neurofilament-H density was higher in the treatment groups when compared to the Crush Injury group. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, it was found that umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells and erythropoietin treatments effects positively regeneration of crush injury caused by bulldog clamp in the sciatic nerve of rats.