Risk factors of recurrent spontaneous abortion / 中华男科学杂志

Recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA) has various complicated causes, and more and more researches are focused on its etiology. Genetic factors are the most common risk factors of RSA; immune factors, infection factors, male factors and female factors play an important role; environmental pollution and some other unknown factors may also be conspirators. This article presents an overview on the possible risk factors of RSA.

Progesterone and its receptor in male reproduction / 中华男科学杂志

Progesterone, as a female hormone, plays an important role in the physiological function and pregnancy maintenance in women. Recent studies show that progesterone and its receptor are also involved in male reproduction, and its receptor mRNA exists in male sexual glands. It is believed that progesterone, binding to its receptor, can regulate spermatogenesis and improve the fertilization of sperm, while the sperm from those with oligospermia, asthenozoospermia, teratospermia or unexplained infertility exhibit a low fertility due to the deficient expression of the progesterone receptor and insensitive reaction to progesterone. This review focuses on the progress in the studies of progesterone and its receptor in male reproduction.

Effects of SOD2 and its C47T mutation on oxidative injury in cochlea hair cell / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the effect of SOD2 and its C47T mutation on oxidative injury in cochlea hair cells.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>HEI-OC1 cells were transfected with the SOD2 of Ala16 and Vla16. Cells' proliferation ability was determined by MTT assay. The intracellular SOD2 activities were detected by xanthine oxidase method. Intracellular ROS were determined by DCFH-DA after exposure to 100 µmol/L t-BHP and the early apoptotic and necrotic rate or late apoptotic rate were quantified by flow cytometry (FCM) using Annexin V/PI double staining.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>MTT method showed the transfection of SOD2 gene and empty plasmid did not affect the proliferation capacity. SOD2 vitality in Ala(16) and Val(16) SOD2 transfected cells increased 2.51 and 2.71 times respectively (P < 0.01), but the difference between the two transfection groups was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). After exposed to t-BHP, the majority of the untransfected and empty plasmid transfected cells sent '++' class bright fluorescence, while in Ala(16) and Val(16) SOD2 transfected groups, only about half cells sent '±' ∼ '+' level fuzzy fluorescence. determination of FCM suggested the early apoptotic and necrotic rate or late apoptotic rate decreased after SOD2 transfection (P < 0.01), but the difference between the two genotypes of SOD2 was not statistically significant (P > 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>High expression of SOD2 below 3.71 times can reduce intracellular ROS level in HEI-OC1 cells, while SOD2 C47T mutation had no effect on them. SOD2 can be considered as NIHL susceptibility gene and its rs4880 SNP may be not directly related to NIHL genetic susceptibility.</p>

Effect of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/serine-threonine kinase signalling pathway during the proliferation process of HL-60 cells exposed to benzoquinone / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the effects of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Serine-threonine kinase (PI3K/Akt) signal pathway on the proliferation of HL-60 cells exposed to benzoquinone (BQ).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>HL60 cells were divided into 3 groups: control group (treated with PBS), BQ group (treated with 3 micromol/L BQ) and LY294002 plus BQ group (treated with 20 micromol/L LY294002 plus 3 micromol/L BQ). The cell proliferation was measured with alamar blue dye assay. Western blot assay was used to detect the expression of p-Akt and Akt proteins and flow cytometer was used to observe the cell cycle.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The cell proliferation rate and the cell proportion in the S, G2 phase of BQ group were 185.00% +/- 30.00%, 48.23% +/- 1.37% and 15.40% +/- 1.21%, respectively, which were significantly higher than those (100.00% +/- 0.00%, 42.47% +/- 0.45% and 5.40% +/- 0.40%) of control group (P<0.05). But the cell proportion rate (36.37% +/- 0.40%) in the G1 phase in BQ group was significantly lower than that (52.13 +/- 0.75%) in control group (P<0.05). The expression level of p-Akt protein in BQ group was significantly higher than that in control group (P<0.05). The cell proliferation rate and the cell proportion in the S, G2 phase of LY294002 plus BQ group were 82.59% +/- 15.00%, 42.03% +/- 0.50% and 3.87% +/- 0.47%, respectively, which were significantly lower than those of BQ group (P<0.05). But the cell proportion rate (54.43% +/- 0.40%) in the G1 phase in LY294002 plus BQ group was significantly higher than that in BQ group (P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The PI3K/Akt signal pathway may play an important role in the proliferation of HL-60 cells exposed to BQ.</p>