Oxytocin Modulation of Maternal Behavior and Its Association With Immunological Activity in Rats With Cesarean Delivery.

Oxytocin (OT), a neuropeptide produced in the supraoptic (SON) and paraventricular (PVN) nuclei, is not only essential for lactation and maternal behavior but also for normal immunological activity. However, mechanisms underlying OT regulation of maternal behavior and its association with immunity around parturition, particularly under mental and physical stress, remain unclear. Here, we observed effects of OT on maternal behavior in association with immunological activity in rats after cesarean delivery (CD), a model of reproductive stress. CD significantly reduced maternal interests to the pups throughout postpartum day 1-8. On postpartum day 5, CD decreased plasma OT levels and thymic index but increased vasopressin, interleukin (IL)-1ß, IL-6 and IL-10 levels. CD had no significant effect on plasma adrenocorticotropic hormone and corticosterone levels. In the hypothalamus, CD decreased corticotropin-releasing hormone contents in the PVN but increased OT contents in the PVN and SON and OT release from hypothalamic implants. CD also increased c-Fos expression, particularly in the cytoplasm of OT neurons. Lastly, CD depolarized resting membrane potential and increased spike width while increasing the variability of the firing rate of OT neurons in brain slices. Thus, CD can increase hypothalamic OT contents and release but reduce pituitary release of OT into the blood, which is associated with depressive-like maternal behavior, increased inflammatory cytokine release and decreased relative weight of the thymus.

Effect of danefukang on symptoms and biomarkers in women with endometriosis.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to observe the efficacy of Danefukang (DEFK) soft extract for the treatment of symptoms associated with endometriosis, and its effect on quality of life, the Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS) scores, and on levels of carbohydrate antigen (CA)-125, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and interleukin (IL)-6. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 174 patients with endometriosis treated from January 2010 to December 2013 were randomly divided into a control group treated with mifepristone (n = 87) or DEFK (n = 87). Both groups were treated for 3 months. Symptoms, quality of life, SAS, SD scores, and levels of CA-125, TNF-α, and IL-6 were evaluated before and after treatment. RESULTS: The effectiveness rate was 93.10% in the DEFK group and 81.61% in the mifepristone control group (χ2 = 4.215, P < 0.05). Treatment with DEFK resulted in a greater improvement in quality of life, SDS, and SAS scores compared with mifepristone (all, P < 0.05). DEFK treatment also resulted in a greater decrease of CA-125, TNF-α, and IL-6 levels compared with mifepristone (all, P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Based on the current results - improved symptoms, attenuated depression and anxiety, and reduced the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and CA-125 -treatment with DEFK is a meaningful option for patients with endometriosis. DEFK fills an unmet need in the pharmacologic treatment of endometriosis.

[Cloning, expression and purification of human stem cell growth factor cDNA and its species-specificity in hematopoiesis].

Stem cell growth factor (SCGF) is an early-acting hematopoitic cytokine that has two isoforms including hSCGF with full length molecules and hSCGFbeta, 78 amino acids of which lost in the conserved calcium-dependent carbohydrate-recognition domain (CRD). It has been demonstrated that hSCGFbeta is strictly species-specific in regulating he-matopoiesis. This study was aimed to explore whether human SCGF can exert synergistic stimulatory effect on heterogenous murine CFU-GM progenitor. Firstly, hSCGF cDNA was amplified from human fetal liver cDNA library by using two-step PCR. The hSCGF mature peptide coding sequence was subsequently placed at downstream of glutathione S-transferase (GST) sequence in GST gene fusion expression vector. The results indicated that there existed an additional 60 kD protein compared with mock BL21 when the cells hosting recombinant plasmid were induced with IPTG at 37 degrees C. SDS-PAGE analysis demonstrated that the GST-hSCGF fusion protein mainly existed in insoluble form. When induced at low temperature (28 degrees C), the recombinant protein was mostly soluble. The GST-fusion recombinant protein was subsequently purified by using affinity chromatography. The clonogenic assay revealed that, unlike hSCGFbeta, hSCGF had the granulocyte/macrophage promoting activity (GPA) for murine bone marrow GM progenitor. It is concluded that, in contrast to human SCGFbeta, the intact molecular hSCGF may have no species specificity, implying that CRD domain in human SCGFbeta does not directly bind to corresponding SCGF receptor, but may have certain biological function.