Reproductive Biology
Chapters
« previous | page 2 of 3 pages | next »Leukemia Inhibitory Factor in Reproduction
Levent M. Senturk and Aydin Arici
To describe the clinical findings and implications of leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) in human reproduction. Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) is a pleiotropic cytokine of the interleukin-6 family and has different biological actions in various tissue systems. Although named for its ability to in...
Macrophages and Pregnancy
Gil Mor, Roberto Romero, Vikki M. Abrahams
During implantation, apoptosis is critical for the appropriate tissue remodeling of the maternal decidua and invasion of the developing embryo. Yet the regulation of apoptosis is also imperative for a successful pregnancy. The quick and effective removal of apoptotic cells by tissue macrophages r...
Making a Morphogentic Gradient
Henk Roelink
The characteristics of Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) represent a challenge to the simple model in which a morphogen establishes a gradient via diffusion through the extracellular space in a developing tissue. The lipophilic nature of appended molecules, renders Shh virtually insoluble. Large, soluble mult...
Mamamalian Reproductive Tract and Placentation
Susan Richman and Frederick Naftolin
Phylogenetic analysis suggests that the internalization of reproduction and the develop ment of hemochorial placentation have been accompanied by conservation of primitive genitourinary genes. The products include the renin-angiotensin system and the innate immune system. This explains what might...
MHC Molecules of the Preimplantation Embryo and Trophoblast
Martina Comiskey, Carol M. Warner and Danny J. Schust
The mechanisms of protection of the allogeneic fetus from the maternal immune response during pregnancy remain mysterious more than fifty years after the paradox of maternal tolerance was first raised by Peter Medawar. Preimplantation embryos express paternal antigens early in development. After ...
Mitochondrial DNA Inheritance after SCNT
Stefan Hiendleder
Mitochondrial biogenesis and function is under dual genetic control and requires extensive interaction between biparentally inherited nuclear genes and maternally inherited mitochondrial genes. Standard SCNT procedures deprive an oocytes’ mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of the corresponding maternal...
Mode of PTCH1/Ptch1-associated Tumor Formation: Insights from Mutant Ptch1 Mice
H. Hahn
Patched1 (PTCH1/Ptch1) is a member of the SHH/Shh signaling pathway, where it serves as a receptor for SHH/Shh. Inactivating mutations in the PTCH1/Ptch1 gene result in a pathological activation of the pathway, which may lead to several forms of familial and sporadic cancers. Although PTCH1/Ptch1...
Modulating the Hedgehog Pathway in Diseases
Frederic J. de Sauvage and Lee L. Rubin
The hedgehog (Hh) pathway is a signaling system that regulates a wide range of develop mental processes.10 Hh proteins act as morphogens to induce cell differentiation in a dose dependent manner, control cell proliferation, or alter cell shape. Aberrant regulation of the Hh signal caused by mutat...
Nitric Oxide and Cyclic Nucleotides: Their Roles in Junction Dynamics and Spermatogenesis
Nikki P.Y. Lee and C. Yan Cheng
Spermatogenesis is a highly complicated process in which functional spermatozoa (haploid, 1n) are generated from primitive mitotic spermatogonia (diploid, 2n). This process involves the differentiation and transformation of several types of germ cells as spermatocytes and spermatids undergo meiosis ...
NK Cells and Pregnancy
Mikael Eriksson, Satarupa Basu and Charles L. Sentman
Natural killer cells are found in large numbers in the endometrium and decidua, and data suggest that NK cell functions and interactions with fetal-derived trophoblasts can have a profound impact on pregnancy. Altered NK cell numbers and activity have been associated with a variety of clinical co...
Nuclear Remodeling and Nuclear Reprogramming for Making Transgenic Pigs by Nuclear Transfer
Randall S. Prather
A better understanding of the cellular and molecular events that occur when a nucleus is transferred to the cytoplasm of an oocyte will permit the development of improved procedures for performing nuclear transfer and cloning. In some cases it appears that the gene(s) are reprogrammed, while i...
Nucleolar Remodeling in Nuclear Transfer Embryos
Jozef Laurincik and Poul Maddox-Hyttel
Transcription of the ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes occurs in the nucleolus and results in ribosome biogenesis. The rRNA gene activation and the associated nucleolus forma- tion may be used as a marker for the activation of the embryonic genome in mammalian embryos and, thus serve to evaluate the d...
Potential Role of Glucocorticoids in the Pathophysiology of Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR)
Seth Guller, Yuehong Ma and Men-Jean Lee
Although the etiology of intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and preeclampsia (PE) remains unclear, most investigators attribute the initial “insult” to poor utero-placental perfusion due to defective trophoblast invasion that ultimately compromises fetal well-being.1-3 The resultant hypoxia c...
Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD): Screening for Aneuploidy in Human Oocytes and Polar Bodies
J. Navarro,* C. Gutierrez-Mateo, A. Pujol, M. Durban, J.F. Sanchez-Garcia, J. Egozcue and J. Benet
Since it has been reported that in humans 90% of embryos are aneuploid as a result of malsegregation mechanisms in maternal meiosis I,1 the detection of abnormal oocytes in IVF treatments has become of considerable importance. Taking into account the results obtained from the study of recognized ...
Prenatal Detection of Chromosome Abnormalities
Brynn Levy and Nataline Kardon
Chromosome abnormalities have been diagnosed from prenatal specimens for almost 40 years. In the United States, the current standard of care in obstetrical practice is to offer either chorionic villus sampling (CVS) or amniocentesis to women at increased risk for having a fetus with chromosome...
Proteases and Their Cognate Inhibitors of the Serine and Metalloprotease Subclasses, in Testicular Physiology
Brigitte Le Magueresse-Battistoni
The testis is a highly dynamic organ not only in the fetal stage but also during postnatal development and in adult life. It is composed of two major compartments: the intersti- tium with the steroidogenic Leydig cells, and the seminiferous tubules. The seminiferous tubules are surrounded by pe...
Rapid Prenatal Diagnosis of Common Chromosome Aneuploidies by Quantitative Fluorescent PCR
Vincenzo Cirigliano and Matteo Adinolfi
Prenatal diagnoses of chromosome abnormalities are performed by cytogenetic analyses of metaphase chromosomes obtained from fetal cells after several days of in vitro culture. The main disadvantage is that definitive results may take up to two weeks thus increasing parental anxiety or delayin...
Selenium, a Key Element in Spermatogenesis and Male Fertility
Carla Boitani and Rossella Puglisi
Selenium is essential for normal spermatogenesis of mammals and its critical role is mainly mediated by two selenoproteins, namely Phospholipid Hydroperoxide Glutathione Peroxidase(PHGPx/GPx4) and Selenoprotein P. PHGPx/GPx4 is the major selenoprotein expressed by germ cells in the testis, having mu...
Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT) in Mammals: The Cytoplast and Its Reprogramming Activities
Josef Fulka, Jr. and Helena Fulka
It is now more than nine years since Dolly, the world’s first somatic cell cloned mammal was born, and the success of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is still disappointingly low. Only about 3-5% of reconstructed embryos develop to term, and it is also evident that even if some clones are...
Somatic Cell Nuclei in Cloning: Strangers Traveling in a Foreign Land
Keith E. Latham, Shaorong Gao and Zhiming Han
The recent successes in producing cloned offspring by somatic cell nuclear transfer are nothing short of remarkable. This process requires the somatic cell chromatin to substi- tute functionally for both the egg and the sperm genomes, and indeed the processing of the transferred nuclei shares a...
Spatial and Temporal Regulation of Hair Follicle Progenitors by Hedgehog Signalling
Anthony E. Oro
Epithelial organs such as the vertebrate hair undergo programmed self-renewal in part by controlling the growth of progenitor cells. The hedgehog signaling pathway regulates progenitor growth in a variety of tissues. This chapter discusses evidence for how the skin regulates the production of Shh...
Spermatogenesis and Cycle of the Seminiferous Epithelium
Rex A. Hess and Luiz Renato de Franca
Spermatogenesis is a complex biological process of cellular transformation that produces male haploid germ cells from diploid spermatogonial stem cells. This process has been simplified morphologically by recognizing cellular associations or ‘stages’ and ‘phases’ of spermatogenesis, which prog...
Testicular Development and Spermatogenesis: Harvesting the Postgenomics Bounty
Antoine D. Rolland, Bernard Jégou and Charles Pineau
Spermatogenesis is a sophisticated process facilitating transmission of the genetic patrimony and, thus, perpetuation of the species. Mammalian spermatogenesis is classically divided into three 3 phases. In the first—the proliferative or mitotic phase—primitive germ cells or spermatogonia undergo a ...
Th1/Th2 Balance of the Implantation Site in Humans
Shigeru Saito, Satomi Miyazaki and Yasushi Sasaki
Successful embryo implantation requires the synchronization of embryo development and uterine preparation. The embryo must have developed to the blastocyst stage and the endometrium must be in a receptive phase. Wilcox et al1 have estimated that 65% of conceptions end in unrecognized losses. Thes...
The Eutherian Fetoembryonic Defense System Hypothesis: An Update
Gary F. Clark, Anne Dell, Howard Morris and Manish S. Patankar
All sexually reproducing organisms produce gametes that must be protected from immune challenge. Recent data indicates that the majority of the carbohydrate sequences that coat the murine zona pellucida are also upregulated on activated lymphocytes, and some participate in gamete binding. This ov...
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