Mammary alveolar development during pregnancy is triggered by hormone signals. The prolactin receptor/Jak2/signal transducer and activator of transcription (Stat) 5 signal transduction pathway is the principal mediator of these cues and alveolar development is abrogated in its absence. The loss of the basic helix-loop-helix protein inhibitor of differentiation (Id)2 results ...

BACKGROUND: To assess the feasibility of analyzing fetal cells from maternal circulation by using magnetic activated cell sorting (MACS) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for prenatal diagnosis. METHODS: Thirty-one high-risk (either advanced maternal age or abnormal serum Down screening) pregnant women (14-22 weeks) were enrolled. Twenty ml of venous blood ...

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to evaluate the detection of fetal cells from transcervical samples, collected in early pregnancy, by means of different molecular techniques. The value of the isolation of trophoblasts using an inverted microscope, also referred to as micromanipulation, is discussed. METHODS: All the 89 specimens ...

The immunological relationship between the mother and the fetus is a bi-directional communication determined on the one hand by fetal antigen presentation and on the other hand by recognition of and reaction to these antigens by the maternal immune system. There is evidence now that immunological recognition of pregnancy is ...

There have been few studies aimed at determining the effects of maternal peptide hormones on the developing fetus and even fewer aimed at determining the long-term consequences of abnormalities in maternal hormone exposure. In this study, we have examined the effect of maternal prolactin (PRL) on the production, seeding and ...

Oral administration of the novel anti-inflammatory peptide RDP58 markedly reduced the severity of dextran sulphate sodium (DSS) colitis as determined by clinical and quantitative histological criteria. The architecture of the colonic epithelium in DSS treated mice receiving RDP58 remained relatively normal compared with that of control DSS treated animals. 5-Bromo-2'-deoxyuridine ...

Preeclampsia, which manifests itself as hypertension, proteinuria, and edema in pregnancy, requires the presence of trophoblast tissue but not a fetus. It is characterized by abnormal trophoblast invasion of the spiral arteries of the decidua and myometrium leading to a failure to establish an adequate uteroplacental blood flow and, therefore, ...

OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to determine whether pre-B-cell colony-enhancing factor (PBEF) is expressed in the human fetal membranes during normal gestation and parturition in the absence of infection and to show its effects on the expression of interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-8. STUDY DESIGN: PBEF was immunolocalized in the fetal membranes ...

In this study, we determined the histomorphological changes in different regions of the oviduct (fimbriae, infundibulum, ampullae and isthmus) during early pregnancy (days 1-4) of the rabbit. It was observed that the number of secretory cells (PAS-positive cells) diminished in the fimbriae during the first 4 days of pregnancy with ...

Pharmacologic inhibition of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) activity during murine pregnancy results in maternal T-cell-mediated rejection of allogeneic but not syngeneic conceptuses. Increased risk of allogeneic pregnancy failure induced by exposure to IDO inhibitor is strongly correlated with maternal C3 deposition at the maternal-fetal interface. Here we review evidence that cells ...

Preeclampsia (PE) is a major cause of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. The genesis of PE is related to deficient trophoblast invasion of maternal spiral arteries, which might result in a reduction of placental (PL) oxygen (O(2)). An absence of increased O(2) that normally occurs around the 10-12th wk ...

Modifications in the erythrocyte membrane protein band 3 seem to mark the cell for death. A decrease in band 3 high molecular weight aggregates (HMWAg) and a rise in its proteolytic fragments (Pfrag) were described for younger erythrocytes. The aim of this work was to study the band 3 profile ...

The fetus is considered to be an allograft that, paradoxically, survives pregnancy despite the laws of classical transplantation immunology. There is no direct contact of the mother with the embryo, only with the extraembryonic placenta as it implants in the uterus. No convincing evidence of uterine maternal T-cell recognition of ...

Resistance to many intracellular protozoan parasites is dependent on T helper cell 1 cytokine responses. This has important repercussions for pregnant females because strong T helper cell 1 cytokine responses are incompatible with successful pregnancy. Thus, there are two possible consequences of infection with protozoans such as Leishmania major, Plasmodium ...

Fetal cells, specifically fetal erythroblasts, as well as cell-free fetal DNA are present in the maternal circulation. Both are currently being investigated as a means for the non-invasive risk-free analysis of fetal genetic traits. The origin of this cell-free fetal DNA in the maternal circulation is currently unclear. Since numerous ...

The aim of the present study was to compare the rates of fetal cells obtained after separation from maternal blood by magnetic activated cell sorting (MACS) using different fetal specific antibodies, and to evaluate the potential role of this method in the prenatal diagnosis of fetal trisomies. Peripheral blood samples ...

We investigated the cellular mechanisms responsible for the inability of 8-month-old previously malnourished (PM) females to adapt their beta-cell mass during pregnancy. The evolution during pregnancy of beta-cell fraction, size and proliferation was studied. At day 21 of pregnancy beta-cell fraction increased less in PM than in control females, compared ...

PROBLEM: The scarce data on glucose transporter expression of leukocytes are contradictory and nothing is known about changes accompanying physiological leukocytosis during pregnancy, which imposes acute metabolic demands on the cells. METHOD OF STUDY: Cytospin preparations of intravascular leukocytes were searched immunocytochemically for the high affinity glucose transporters GLUT1, 3 ...

Human parvovirus B19 (B19) infection during pregnancy can result in horizontal transmission of the virus and congenital infection. The main targets for B19 replication are the erythroid precursor cell of the colony and burst forming units. The cellular receptor necessary for B19 infectivity is globoside. Other non-erythroid cells can express ...

Early embryonic losses are much higher in nuclear transfer (cloned) pregnancies, and this is a major impediment to improving the efficiency of cloned animal production. In cattle, many of these losses occur around the time of placental attachment from the fourth week of gestation. We studied the potential for altered ...

Fetal nucleated red blood cells (NRBC) have been widely reported in maternal blood during pregnancy. However, there is no consensus with regard to their presence in all pregnancies. Therefore, the usefulness of developing a fetal NRBC-based noninvasive method suitable for clinical prenatal diagnosis remains uncertain. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) ...

Apart from estrone-3-sulfate (E1S) the bovine placenta produces progesterone (P4), though the corpus luteum is the major source of P4 responsible for maintaining pregnancy. So far the biological function of placental steroids in cattle is largely unknown. However, since the local availability of free estrone (E1) in the placenta seems ...

PROBLEM: Maternal cellular immunity is thought to be in a state of tolerance during pregnancy, but the precise mechanism of immunomodulation is not yet known. We investigated a novel serum protein, killer-specific secretory protein of 37 kDa (Ksp37), produced by cytotoxic lymphocytes, during pregnancy. METHOD OF STUDY: The level of ...

Preeclampsia is a severe disorder of human pregnancy characterized by generalized activation of maternal endothelial cells. Oxidative stress of the placenta is considered a key intermediary step, precipitating deportation of apoptotic fragments into the maternal circulation, but the cause remains unknown. We hypothesize that intermittent placental perfusion, secondary to deficient ...

The cytotoxic, cyclic depsipeptide (-)-doliculide was originally isolated by Ishiwata et al. (Ishiwata, H., Nemoto, T., Ojika, M., and Yamada, K. (1994) J. Org. Chem. 59, 4710-4711 and Ishiwata, H., Sone, H., Kigoshi, H., and Yamada, K. (1994) J. Org. Chem. 59, 4712-4713) from the sea hare Dolabella auricularia collected ...

AIMS: To determine the localisation and distribution of connective tissue growth factor (CCN2; CTGF) and transforming growth factor beta type 1 (TGF-beta1) in uterine tissues from cycling and early pregnant pigs. METHODS: In situ hybridisation and immunohistochemistry were used to localise CCN2 (CTGF) or TGF-beta1 in uteri obtained from gilts ...

Pregnancy is often referred to as a hypercoagulable state due to changes in the haemostatic system. Tissue factor (TF) is the initiator of blood clotting in vivo. The effect of pregnancy on monocyte TF expression was determined in a longitudinal case control study (89 pregnant, 39 non-pregnant). Using whole blood ...

Degradation of extracellular matrix (ECM) components is critical for invasion. Heparan sulphate proteoglycans are abundant in the ECM of the placenta and the decidua, hence their degradation may disassemble the matrix and facilitate placentation and trophoblast invasion. This study investigates the expression of heparanase in normal and pathological placentation using ...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether S-100beta, a brain-specific protein found in amniotic fluid and fetal circulation, is present in fetoplacental tissues throughout gestation. METHODS: S-100beta protein localization and concentration were assessed in placentae, fetal membranes, and cord vessels. Tissues were obtained from 40 pregnant women at different gestational ages: first trimester ...

During the present study the contribution of lipoprotein lipase (LPL) to low density lipoprotein (LDL) holoparticle and LDL-lipid (alpha-tocopherol (alphaTocH)) turnover in primary porcine brain capillary endothelial cells (BCECs) was investigated. The addition of increasing LPL concentrations to BCECs resulted in up to 11-fold higher LDL holoparticle cell association. LPL ...

OBJECTIVE: We tested the hypothesis that apoptotic trophoblasts from pregnancies associated with fetal growth restriction caused by preeclampsia or cigarette use exhibit enhanced expression of the proapoptotic proteins p53 and Bax and diminished expression of the antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2. STUDY DESIGN: Placentas were obtained from women with uncomplicated pregnancies (n ...

A study of the fundamental biology of the maternal-fetal interface reveals the complex interactions among multiple cell types and regulatory factors necessary to support a successful pregnancy. Cells of decidua and trophoblast lineages play central roles in creating the maternal-fetal interface and are sources of regulatory factors that can determine ...

During intrauterine human placentation, extravillous trophoblast invades uterine tissues starting with proliferating stem cells at the basement membrane of anchoring villi. Transition to the postproliferative invasive phenotype takes place several cell layers distant. Here we show that in intrauterine pregnancies invasive trophoblast comprises three cellular phenotypes: a. Small spindle-shaped trophoblast ...

Cells of fetal origin and cell-free fetal DNA can be detected in the maternal circulation during pregnancy, and it has recently been shown that fetal cells can persist long after delivery. Given the various biological and clinical implications of this fact, we tested the hypothesis that cell-free fetal DNA can ...

BACKGROUND: The interaction between decidual natural killer (NK) cells and alloantigens expressed on fetal trophoblast cells are thought to be essential for successful implantation and placentation. Consequently, a disturbed interaction during the first trimester of pregnancy might well lead to a subsequent pregnancy failure. METHODS: We investigated the expression of ...

Extramedullary hematopoiesis (EMH) in the endometrium is an extremely rare occurrence. Four of the eight previously reported cases were related to an underlying hematological disorder, although the remainder had no such relationship. We describe a case of endometrial EMH associated with retained products of conception after termination of pregnancy. Routinely ...

Identification of factors that play a role in regulating the highly invasive ability of human placental cells throughout gestation will contribute to a better understanding of this unique developmental process. The aims of this study were to determine whether the tumour suppressor gene maspin is present in the human placenta ...

BACKGROUND: Primary antiphospholipid antibody syndrome (PAPS) is an established cause of recurrent pregnancy loss, traditionally presumed to be due to 'intraplacental thromboses'. This study examines products of conception (POC) from early pregnancy failures to investigate the mechanism of pregnancy loss. METHODS: POC from patients attending a recurrent miscarriage clinic and ...

During pregnancy, changes in oxygen tension are essential for proper embryonic and placental development. Little is known about the mechanisms underlying mammalian cellular adaptations to changes in oxygen tension. Currently, we have explored putative mechanisms by which human trophoblast cells may sense oxygen. In order to investigate a role for ...

BACKGROUND: Transient hypertension (TH) and preeclampsia (PE) are believed to have different pathophysiology. However, 15-25% of pregnant women initially diagnosed as having TH develop PE. To clarify the immuno-pathogenetical connections between the two syndromes, we studied the pattern of T helper cell (Th)1/Th2 cytokine balance disturbances existing inside maternal decidua ...

We have developed a sensitive sandwich ELISA (sELISA) for quantitative determination of group V phospholipase A(2) (gVPLA(2)). This assay utilizes three monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) directed against human gVPLA(2) (MCL-1B7, MCL-2A5, and MCL-3G1), which recognize specifically different epitopes of gVPLA(2). A mixture of MCL-1B7 and MCL-2A5 was used as the capture ...

Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) has been implicated in regulation of feto-maternal tolerance and protection against intracellular and extracellular pathogens. We have studied the expression of IDO in the human female reproductive tract and the placenta by immunohistochemistry. Endometrial glandular and surface epithelial cells showed increasing IDO expression during the course of ...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the relationship between changes in plasma adenosine concentration and imbalances in the T-helper 1/T-helper 2 ratio in peripheral blood of women with preeclampsia. METHODS: Plasma adenosine concentrations and the T-helper 1/T-helper 2 ratio were examined in the peripheral blood of 16 preeclamptic and normal pregnant women. The ...

Ciliogenesis in human fetal airway epithelium occurs from 11 to 24 gestational weeks. Using genetic and antigenic markers specific for human axonemal dynein heavy chain 9, we characterized temporal aspects of axonemal dynein expression associated with large airway epithelial ciliogenesis during human fetal development. Late in the first trimester, an ...

We cloned mouse ING1 homologue (mINGh), an A1/Bfl-1-interacting protein, from mouse mammary glands using a yeast two-hybrid assay and unexpectedly found four splicing variants of mINGh by reverse transcription-PCR assay and sequence analysis. The alternative splicing variants were mINGh-S, mINGh-M, mINGh-L, and mINGh-L2 encoding 171, 248, 166, and 227 amino ...

Noninvasive, epitheliochorial placentation in the pig follows a prolonged preimplantation period characterized by migration, spacing and elongation of conceptuses, and secretion of estrogen for maternal recognition of pregnancy. Osteopontin (OPN) is an extracellular matrix protein that binds integrins to promote cell-cell attachment and communication. OPN appears to play a key ...

A series of 3,4-diaryl-2(5H)-furanone derivatives were synthesized and evaluated for their cytotoxicity in a small panel of cancer cell lines. Four out of 10 compounds in this series, for example 3-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl)-4-(4-methoxyphenyl)-, 3-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl)-4-(3-hydroxy-4-methoxyphenyl)-, 3-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl)-4-(3-amino-4-methoxyphenyl)-, and 3-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl)-4-(2-naphthyl)-2(5H)-furanones, were found to have potent cytotoxic activities with ED50 values of less than 20 nM ...

The ontogeny and functional role of steroidogenesis during mammalian gestation is poorly understood. This review provides a summary of our recent findings on the spatio-temporal expression of key steroidogenic genes controlling progesterone synthesis in the uterus during mouse pregnancy. We have shown that onset of cholesterol side chain cleavage cytochrome ...

PROBLEM: Normal pregnancy has been described as both a pro-inflammatory condition and a T helper (Th)2-dominated state. Deviations in the percentage of different subpopulations of circulating leukocytes have been detected, although with conflicting results. This study was designed to analyse further the phenotype of subpopulations of peripheral blood leukocytes in ...

OBJECTIVE: We hypothesize that placenta growth and basal plate (Nitabuch's fibrinoid) formation involves fibrin deposition in decidual veins as trophoblast cells invade. STUDY DESIGN: Decidua from women who underwent first trimester elective pregnancy termination (n = 15 women), in situ pregnancy (n = 2 women), and ectopic pregnancy (n = ...