Extracellular vesicles in blood, milk and body fluids of the female and male urogenital tract and with special regard to reproduction.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are released from almost all cells and tissues. They are able to transport substances (e.g. proteins, RNA or DNA) at higher concentrations than in their environment and may adhere in a receptor-controlled manner to specific cells or tissues in order to release their content into the respective target structure. Blood contains high concentrations of EVs mainly derived from platelets, and, at a smaller amount, from erythrocytes. The female and male reproductive tracts produce EVs which may be associated with fertility or infertility and are released into body fluids and mucosas of the urogenital organs. In this review, the currently relevant detection methods are presented and critically compared. During pregnancy, placenta-derived EVs are dynamically detectable in peripheral blood with changing profiles depending upon progress of pregnancy and different pregnancy-associated pathologies, such as preeclampsia. EVs offer novel non-invasive diagnostic tools which may reflect the situation of the placenta and the foetus. EVs in urine have the potential of reflecting urogenital diseases including cancers of the neighbouring organs. Several methods for detection, quantification and phenotyping of EVs have been established, which include electron microscopy, flow cytometry, ELISA-like methods, Western blotting and analyses based on Brownian motion. This review article summarises the current knowledge about EVs in blood and cord blood, in the different compartments of the male and female reproductive tracts, in trophoblast cells from normal and pre-eclamptic pregnancies, in placenta ex vivo perfusate, in the amniotic fluid, and in breast milk, as well as their potential effects on natural killer cells as possible targets.

Effect of short-term 50 Hz electromagnetic field exposure on the behavior of rats.

Extremely low-frequency electromagnetic field generated by transformer stations located within buildings has been suspected to initiate non-specific health problems. This possibility was examined in model experiments in rats. Following short-term exposure (50 Hz, 500 mircoT, 20 min), situational and social anxiety as well as locomotor activity pattern were examined by several different tests (elevated plus-maze, novel object exploration, social interaction and territoriality).Based on our results having obtained so far, it seems that these field parameters (that equals the official reference limit for workers) may cause some kind of discomfort, may influence behavior, increase passivity and situational anxiety, but has no verified effect on the social and territorial behavior.