RESUMO
The upregulation of dopaminergic neuronal differentiation is necessary for stem cell therapy in Parkinson's disease (PD). In this study, neuronal differentiation efficiency increased by more than 2 times in P19 embryonic stem cells (ESCs) induced by N-acetylcysteine (NAC) and retinoic acid (RA) as compared to RA alone, with suppressed glial differentiation. The majority of NAC-treated stem cells grafted into brains of PD mice differentiated into dopaminergic neurons and persisted well for 6 weeks. Parkinsonism was also greatly improved after grafting NAC-treated cells in comparison to cells treated with only RA. Our results strongly suggest that NAC treatment may be an effective strategy for generating stem cells fated to become dopaminergic neurons for PD clinical therapy.
Assuntos
Acetilcisteína/farmacologia , Diferenciação Celular/efeitos dos fármacos , Células-Tronco Embrionárias/efeitos dos fármacos , Neurônios/efeitos dos fármacos , Transtornos Parkinsonianos/patologia , Transtornos Parkinsonianos/terapia , Animais , Encéfalo/patologia , Células Cultivadas , Modelos Animais de Doenças , Dopamina/metabolismo , Masculino , Camundongos , Camundongos Endogâmicos C57BL , Transplante de Células-Tronco , Tretinoína/farmacologiaRESUMO
PURPOSE: The objectives of this study were to compare average stress levels in infertile women to fertile women, to determine the stress levels whether the patients was pregnant or not pregnant, and to examine for a cross-section of infertile patients in different stages of medical investigation for the infertility. METHODS: One hundred thirty-eight women receiving medical treatment for infertility attended the program. The State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) of perceived stress associated with the infertility was the outcome measure. RESULTS: Infertile women showed significant increases in trait anxiety and depressive symptoms than the fertile women. Anxiety and depression in the in vitro fertilization (IVF)-failed women were significantly higher than the IVF-success women. According to the duration of infertility, STAI and BDI were moderately elevated in the first stage (< 3 year). There was a trend of a decreasing psychological stress with an advanced infertility duration. On depression scales, the intermediate and final duration of infertility patients showed less symptomatology than the first-stage patients. Contrary to the expectation, demographic factors such as religion and husband cooperation were not related to the experience of stress. CONCLUSIONS: We must pay an attention to the infertile patient, especially from the initial infertility workup. We recommend psychological counselling for IVF-failed patients.
Assuntos
Fertilização in vitro/métodos , Infertilidade Feminina/psicologia , Estresse Psicológico/psicologia , Adulto , Ansiedade/psicologia , Demografia , Feminino , Fertilidade/fisiologia , Humanos , Relações Interpessoais , Idade Materna , Gravidez , Gravidez de Alto Risco , Inquéritos e Questionários , Fatores de TempoRESUMO
The apolipoprotein E (APOE) epsilon4 allele is a known risk factor for the development of Alzheimer's disease, however, an association of the APOE genotype with schizophrenia is controversial. We investigated the association in 60 Korean schizophrenic patients and 60 healthy controls. APOE genotypes were identified by reverse hybridization-based line probe assay. There were significant differences in the distribution of APOE genotypes between schizophrenic patients and controls. APOE epsilon2 and epsilon3 allele frequencies in schizophrenic patients were significantly different from those in controls. Our results suggest that APOE alleles seem to be operative in the pathogenesis of schizophrenic disorders.