Assessing the prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus in infertile male patients in Tabriz, northwest Iran

Background: staphylococcus aureus is an infrequent, but one of the most successful bacteria that associated with infertility and are able to spermatozoa immobilization and agglutination

Objective: the aim of present study was to determine the frequency of S. aureus in semen obtained from infertile male patients in northwest Iran

Materials and Methods: seminal fluids of 100 infertile men were evaluated. Standard semen examination was done according to World Health Organization guidelines. After isolation and identification of S. aureus isolates according to reference methods, determination of susceptibility against important antibiotics and polymerase chain reaction were performed to identify mecA and tst genes

Results: data obtained from the present study shows that 16% of infertile male patients were colonized by S. aureus. Ten [62.5%] of the individuals had abnormal seminal fluid sperm motility and morphology and three [18.8%] of them had an abnormal seminal fluid density, whereas after washing with albumin-saline declined to 5 [31.3%], 4 [25%] and 1 [6.3%], respectively. The antibiogram results showed that, except penicillin, other antibiotics have high activity on isolates. Regarding polymerase chain reaction results, mecA sequences were detected in 3 [18.7%] strains, whilst the tst gene encoding TSST-1 was not detected in any of clinical strains

Conclusion: it would appear that the S. aureus may be an additional negative factor worsening sperm quality and affecting male fertility. Therefore, it demands that all the patients attending in infertility treatment facilities be investigated thoroughly

frequency of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from endocervix of infertile women in Northwest Iran

Background: Infertility is one of the major social issues. Due to the asymptomatic cervical infection associated with Staphylococcus aureus [S. aureus], the majority of patients remain undiagnosed. The present study intended to assess the frequency of S. aureus isolated from infertile women's endocervix in northwest Iran

Materials and Methods: In a descriptive cross sectional study, specimens were randomly collected during vagina examination using a sterile speculum and swabbing. After performance of antibiotic susceptibility testing, polymerase chain reaction [PCR] was used to identify methicillin-resistance S. aureus [MRSA] and toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 [TSST-1]

Results: About 26 [26%] and 9 [9%] women's urogenital tracts were colonized by S. aureus and Candida spp., respectively, of which three [11.5%] patients were infected with fungi and S. aureus, simultaneously. Antibiotic susceptibility results showed high activity of vancomycin and co-trimoxazole on isolates. Regarding PCR results, mecA sequences were detected in 7 [26.9%] strains, whilst the tst gene encoding TSST-1 was not detected in any of clinical strains

Conclusion: The prevalence of S. aureus was very high in infertile women. Therefore, it demands all patients undergoing infertility treatment to be investigated thoroughly for this type of infection

Induction and determination of apoptotic and necrotic cell death by cadmium chloride in testis tissue of mouse

Cadmium chloride which is potentially toxic is currently used in industry. The toxic effects of cadmium on testes have been reported to range from apoptosis to necrosis, with different effects on fertility. This research aimed to study the effect of different doses of cadmium on testicular tissues at acute stage by light and electron microscopy. Cadmium chloride was injected into mature Balb/c mice intraperitoneally in 7 doses. Five mice were studied in each group. After 48 hr, the testes were extracted and prepared for light microscopy. Then two concentrations [15 and 25 micro M/kg] of them were selected for electron microscopic study based on histological changes. The cellular changes of luminal epithelium of seminiferous tubules were studied under an electron microscope. Histological and ultrastructural changes were reported. The absence of sperm in the tubules was observed at 20 micro M/kg concentration. At 25 micro M/kg, histological destruction and epithelial damages were observed. Histological changes were not remarkable at 5 and 10 micro M/kg. However, ultrastructural changes of seminiferous tubules at 20 micro M/kg included spermatogonial cell death. At 25 micro M/kg, vacuolation of Sertoli cells and death of spermatids as well as spermatocytes were observed. Cell death in the tubules was limited to germ cells. However, Sertoli cells exhibited architectural alterations without any cell death. Both apoptosis and necrosis occurred in testicular tissue by exposure to cadmium in a concentration-dependent manner. Gonadal cells were sensitive to cadmium administration. Supportive cells such as Sertoli cells in seminiferous tubules did not exhibit sensitivity to cadmium

Melatonin improves development of early mouse embryos impaired by actinomycin-D and TNF-alpha

Melatonin, a reactive oxygen species [ROS] scavenger and an antioxidant, has been shown that can inhibit apoptosis. Administration of melatonin may improve embryo development in assisted reproductive technology [ART]. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of melatonin in inhibition of spontaneous and induced apoptosis by Tumor Necrosis Factor Alph [TNF-alpha] and actinomycin-D during preimplantation development of mouse embryos. Female BALB/c mice were superovulated with pregnant mare serum gonadotropin [PMSG] followed by human chorionic gonadotropin [HCG], then allowed to mate with male mice. The resultant 2-cell embryos were divided into six groups as follows: control [group I], melatonin [group II], actinomycin-D [group III], actinomycin-D + melatonin [group IV], TNF-alpha [group V], and TNF-alpha + melatonin [group VI]. We recorded the numbers and developmental rates of the 4-cell, 8-cell, morula and blastocyst embryos. Blastocysts were stained with acridine orange in order to assess for the embryo quality. The group IV showed a significantly higher developmental rate of blastocysts compared to group III [p<0.05]. The number of dead blastomers was significantly decreased in group IV in comparison to group III [p<0.05]. Both V and VI groups had a lower developmental rate and lesser quality of blastocysts compared with group I. There was no significant difference in the developmental rate of blastocysts from group II compared to group I [p<0.05]. Supplementation of embryo culture media with melatonin can improve the quality and developmental rate of embryos. Melatonin can prevent cell death that was induced by TNF- alpha and actinomycine-D

Induction of apoptosis and non-apoptosis in human breast cancer cell line [MCF-7] by cisplatin and caffeine

Molecular targeted therapy by different cell death inducers are recently considered in cancer therapy. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of cisplatin and inositol trisphosphate kinase inhibitor [caffeine] on human breast cancer cell line [MCF-7]. The pattern of cell death in MCF-7 cells following the exposure to cisplatin and caffeine in individual and combination forms was characterized. MCF-7cells at late exponential phase were divided into two groups: control and experimental groups. Experimental group was exposed to cisplatin, caffeine and combination of them and control group was treated by vehicle. Forty-eight hours after incubation, floating and attached cells were collected separately. Flowcytometry analysis and electron microscopy were carried out on both attached and floating cells. Two types of apoptotic and non-apoptotic cells were observed in the floating cells as well as in sub G1 cells of both experimental and control groups by electron microscopy. Both early and late stages of apoptosis were characterized and the attached cells remained unaffected. Although two different forms of cell death [apoptosis and non-apoptosis] were appeared in MCF-7 following exposure to cisplatin and caffeine, apoptosis was the major mechanism of cell death. The combination form of anti-cancer drugs with different mechanisms could decrease the dosage of employed anti-cancer drugs

effects of different luteal support hormones on endometrial alkaline phosphatase activity and endometrial thickness in superovulated mice

There are some controversial data on application of progesterone and progesterone plus estrogen at luteal phase. To investigate the effects of different luteal support hormones on the Alkaline Phosphates [ALP] activity in the endometrial epithelium and endometrial thickness during superovulation process for obtaining the optimized endometrial receptivity in animal model. Pseudopregnant female Balb/c mice were induced for pseudopregnany through superovulation then the mice were divided into two groups. Experimental group included five groups: the pseudopregnant mice were given four consecutive, daily injections of progesterone [P group], estrogen [E group], estrogen + progesterone [E+P group], antiprogesterone + estrogen [RU 486 + E], and sham group. In the control group, pseudopregnancy was induced in the natural cycle. The uterus was collected after day 4.5 of pseudopregnancy. The samples were prepared for the morphological and morphometrical evaluation of the endometrial ALP activity and endometrial thickness. ALP activity was observed in all groups except P group. ALP activity of P + E group was similar to E and RU 486 + E groups. Sham group showed high ALP activity compared to the P group. The endometrial thickness was low in the P group and high in the sham group in comparison with other groups. In conclusion, super ovulation decreased the ALP activity. Estrogen along with progesterone at the luteal phase increased the enzyme activity and the endometrial thickness, compared with the progesterone administration, and thus, progesterone plus estrogen could improve embryo receptivity

role of L-arginine in control of apoptosis in preimplantation mouse embryos cultured in high glucose media

Maternal hyperglycemia causes delay in early stages of embryonic growth and development, higher incidence of congenital malformations and spontaneous miscarriage compared with those of non-diabetic conditions. High glucosis tratogenicity seems to be related to reduction of Nitric Oxide production [NO] in hyperglycemic condition. In order to test this hypothesis, 2-cell stage embryos of normal mice were cultured with high concentration of glucose [30mM] and different concentrations of L-arginine [5,10,20 mM] or L-NAME, an NO syntase [NOS] inhibitor. In the end of culture, blastocysts were stained by by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end-labeling [TUNEL] technique and apoptotic cells were detected by using a Fluorescence microscope. Finally the amount of nitrite in the cultured media was assayed by Griess method. The results indicated that high glucose reduces Nitric Oxide production by preimplantation embryos and increases apoptosis of embryonic cells, but 5-20mM of L-arginine significantly increases Nitric Oxide production and decreases apoptosis. On the contrary L-NAME significantly inhibits the development of pre-implantation embryos. In conclusion, this study indicated that reduced nitric oxide production in high glucosis condition is a main factor for embryonic damage, and supplementation of high glucose media with L-arginine has an important role in prevention of high glucosis embryotoxicity