• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.83-90
• /
• 2002

Objective : The purpose of the current series of experiments were to assess the effect of GM-CSF, as a medium supplement, on the development of mouse embryos and the expression of LIF and IL-1? mRNA. Materials and Methods: Mouse 2-cell embryos were collected from the oviducts of 6 weeks old ICR mice at 48 hours after hCG injection. Embryos were cultured in P-1 medium supplemented with mouse GM-CSF (0, 1, 5, 10 ng/ml). The embryo development to blastocysts and hatching blastocysts was assessed and the cell number in blastocyst was also examined. Using RT-PCR, the expressions of LIF and IL-1? mRNA in blastocyst were evaluated in the GM-CSF supplemented group and control group. Results: In mouse, the addition of GM-CSF increased the percentage of blastocysts (65.5%, 68.6%, 73.0% and 76.1% for control and 1, 5 and 10 ng/ml, respectively), and increased the proportion of hatching blastocysts (35.2%, 36.4%, 43.2% and 53.0% for control and 1, 5 and 10 ng/ml, respectively). The mean cell numbers in blastocyst were significantly increased in GM-CSF supplemented groups compared to control group. LIF and IL-1? expression in blastocyst were significantly higher in GM-CSF supplemented group than in control group. Conclusion: The results of experiment by mouse embryos showed beneficial effects of GM-CSF as a medium supplement. Furthermore, the addition of GM-CSF significantly increased the expression of LIF and IL-1? in mouse embryos. These results suggest that GM-CSF might be a important molecule in embryo implantation.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
• /
• v.35 no.4
• /
• pp.441-447
• /
• 2011

The study aim is to investigate the free radicals scavenging and spermatogenic potentials, as well as to analyze any reproductive toxicity of ethanolic extract of Mucuna prureins (M. pruriens) Linn. in spermatozoa, under different dosages in normal male rat. Normal rats were randomly selected and suspension of the extract was administered orally at the dosages of 150, 200 and 250 mg/kg body weight of the different groups of male rats (n=6) once in a day for 60 days and grouped as group II, III and IV respectively. Saline treated rats served as control -group I. On the $60^{th}$ day the animals were sacrificed and the epididymal sperm were subjected to various analyses like level of ROS production, LPO, enzymatic and non enzymatic antioxidant, morphology, morphometry, chromosomal integrity and DNA damage. Results showed significant reduction in ROS production and peroxidation and significant increase in both enzymic and non-enzymic antioxidants in all concentration treated groups when compared with control. Results from all the drug treated groups showed good sperm morphology, increased sperm count and motility. There was no DNA damage and showed normal chromosomal integrity even in 250 mg/kg dose. When compared with control all the three extract treated groups showed increased ROS scavenging activity. However, group II (200 mg/kg) showed significant changes in all the parameters. From the present study it was confirmed that the M. pruriens has potential to improve the sperm qualitatively and quantitatively through scavenging the excess ROS with any adverse side effects. These observations suggest that ethanolic seed extract of M. pruriens may serve as anti-oxidant that can exploit to treat the oxidative stress mediated male factor infertility.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.199-205
• /
• 1998

The present study was performed to analyze the expression of LH genes in the rat ovary. Expression of LH subunit genes in the rat ovary was demonstrated by amplification of ovarian RNA by RT-PCR. The ovarian $LH_\beta$ transcripts contained at least two parts of the published cDNA structure, the pituitary exons 1, 2 and 3 and the part of testicular ex on 1 in the major trancripts form in rat testis. Using RIA, significant amount of LH-like molecules were detected in crude ovarian extracts, and the competition curves with increasing amount of tissue extracts were parallel with those of standard peptide, indicating that the ovarian immunoreactive LH-like material is similar to authentic pituitary LH molecule. The administration of PMSG to immature rats resulted in a sharp decrease of the ovarian LH contents after 24 h post-injection. In conclusion, these findings demonstrate that genes for LH subunits are expressed in the rat ovary, and suggest that LH can playa central role in regulation of female reproduction with both endocrine (by pituitary LH) and auto- and/or para-crine (by ovarian LH) manner.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.189-198
• /
• 1998

Since the male sterilization (vasectomy) has been performed on a large scale as an accepted family planning in Korea on 1980s and this, in turn, has been followed by an increase in the number of patients requesting vasovasostomy. We studies 1000 consecutive cases of vasovasostomy performed from January 1975 to July 1995 in Pusan National University Hospital. In this report, we are going to present serial studies of vasovasostomy through which we attempted to find out what factors are of impotence in influencing the successful outcome of vasovasostomy operation. We inquired the operative results data through the questionnaire and telephone interview with survey of medical records. A total of 259 cases was excluded due to the loss of follow-up. The overall patency and pregnancy rates of 741 cases were 86.9% and 51.1%, respectively. The age of man at the time of anastomosis ranged from 23 to 57 years old with an average of 34.9. The most frequent reason for requesting vasovasostomy was the desire to have more children (43.4%). The average obstructive interval was 60.6 months with range from 1 to 264 months. If the obstructive interval had been less than 5 years patency rate was 92.4% and pregnancy rate 64.8%, but 6 years or more 84.1% and 48.5% (p<0.01, p<0.01). Patency and pegnancy rates according to intraoperative vas fluid were 93.1% and 62.8% for presence and 83.7% and 53.1% for absence (p<0.01, p<0.05). Patency and pregnancy rates according to histologically proven sperm granuloma at vasectomy site were 87.7% and 49.2% for presence and 86.9% and 50.6% for absence (p>0.05, p<0.05). Patency and pregnancy rates were not significantly different between microscopic standard vasovasostomy (88.4%, 64.3%) and modified vasovasostomy (89.5%, 56.3%)(p>0.05, p>0.05). Both patency and pregnancy rates according to level of anastomosis were 89.8% and 59.8% in cases of straight vas and 91.5%, 60.1% in cases of convoluted vas (p>0.05, p>0.05). Patency and pregnancy rates according to the kind of suture materials were 91.5% and 56.2% for absorbable, 91.0% and 64.2% for non-absorbable and 93.3% and 53.3% for absorbable plus non-absorbable, respectively (p>0.05, p<0.05). Thus it is suggested that the important factor influencing the success rate of vasovasostomy is the interval of obstruction and vasal ooze with surgical skills.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
• /
• v.29 no.4
• /
• pp.287-294
• /
• 2002

Objectives: Pelvic tuberculosis (TB) causes infertility despite of anti-TB chemotherapy and IVF-ET is effective treatment to achieve pregnancy. The aim of this study is to assess the outcomes of IVF-ET in pelvic TB, especially according to main Tb lesion, and to investigate the factors affecting the successful outcome. Methods: A total of 135 IVF-ET cycles were performed in 54 patients with pelvic TB and the outcome was compared with that of control group with tubal factor not associated with TB in 301 cycles, 227 patients. Anti-TB chemotherapy was performed in the patients with pelvic TB. Pregnancy rate was compared according to main TB lesion as salpingitis, peritonitis, and endometritis. In the patients with endometrial TB, when complicated with uterine synechia, hysteroscopic lysis was done before IVF-ET and pregnancy rate was compared according to the presence of uterine synechia. Results: There was no significant difference in peak E2 ($2,790{\pm}280.1$ vs $2,554{\pm}101.2$, p>0.05), the number of retrieved oocytes ($13.5{\pm}0.7$ vs $12.5{\pm}0.4$, p>0.05) and fertilized oocytes ($7.7{\pm}0.5$ vs $7.8{\pm}0.3$, p>0.05) between patient and control group. Clinical pregnancy rate per transfer in pelvic TB group was 22.9% and showed no difference from that of control group (24.3%, p>0.05). Although it was not statistically significant, pregnancy rate in the endometrial Tb (18%) was lower than that in the salpingitis (28.5%) or peritonitis (26.5%) (p>0.05). In the endometrial TB with uterine synechia, pregnancy rate was significantly lower than that of the patients without synechia even after hysteroscopic lysis (9.7% vs 31.6%, p<0.05). Conclusion: IVF-ET after anti-TB chemotherapy is the most effective treatment to achieve pregnancy in infertile patients with pelvic TB. Because the presence of endometrial TB and resulting uterine synechia affects the outcome of IVF-ET, thorough evaluation for endometrium with endometrial biopsy and hysteroscopy is important to predict the prognosis of IVF-ET treatment.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
• /
• v.43 no.2
• /
• pp.126-132
• /
• 2016

Objective: The purpose of this study was to identify useful clinical factors for the identification of patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) who would benefit from in vitro maturation (IVM) treatment without exhibiting compromised pregnancy outcomes. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was performed of 186 consecutive patients with PCOS who underwent human chorionic gonadotropin-primed IVM treatment between March 2010 and March 2014. Only the first IVM cycle of each patient was included in this study. A retrospective case-control study was subsequently conducted to compare pregnancy outcomes between IVM and conventional in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles. Results: Through logistic regression analyses, we arrived at the novel finding that serum $anti-M{\ddot{u}}llerian$ hormone (AMH) levels and the number of fertilized oocytes in IVM were independent predictive factors for live birth with unstandardized coefficients of 0.078 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.005-1.164; p=0.037) and 0.113 (95% CI, 1.038-1.208; p=0.003), respectively. Furthermore, these two parameters were able to discriminate patients who experienced live births from non-pregnant IVM patients using cut-off levels of 8.5 ng/mL and five fertilized oocytes, respectively. A subsequent retrospective case-control study of patients with PCOS who had serum AMH levels ${\geq}8.5ng/mL$ showed that IVM had pregnancy outcomes comparable to conventional IVF, and that no cases of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome were observed. Conclusion: Serum AMH levels are a useful factor for predicting pregnancy outcomes in PCOS patients before the beginning of an IVM cycle. IVM may be an alternative to conventional IVF for PCOS patients if the patients are properly selected according to predictive factors such as serum AMH levels.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
• /
• v.43 no.4
• /
• pp.193-198
• /
• 2016

Objective: Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency is the most common human enzyme defect. G6PD plays a key role in the pentose phosphate pathway, which is a major source of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH). NADPH provides the reducing equivalents for oxidation-reduction reductions involved in protecting against the toxicity of reactive oxygen species such as $H_2O_2$. We hypothesized that G6PD deficiency may reduce the amount of NADPH in sperms, thereby inhibiting the detoxification of $H_2O_2$, which could potentially affect their motility and viability, resulting in an increased susceptibility to infertility. Methods: Semen samples were obtained from four males with G6PD deficiency and eight healthy males as a control. In both groups, motile sperms were isolated from the seminal fluid and incubated with 0, 10, 20, 40, 60, 80, and $120{\mu}M$ concentrations of $H_2O_2$. After 1 hour incubation at $37^{\circ}C$, sperms were evaluated for motility and viability. Results: Incubation of sperms with 10 and $20{\mu}M\;H_2O_2$ led to very little decrease in motility and viability, but motility decreased notably in both groups in 40, 60, and $80{\mu}M\;H_2O_2$, and viability decreased in both groups in 40, 60, 80, and $120{\mu}M\;H_2O_2$. However, no statistically significant differences were found between the G6PD-deficient group and controls. Conclusion: G6PD deficiency does not increase the susceptibility of sperm to oxidative stress induced by $H_2O_2$, and the reducing equivalents necessary for protection against $H_2O_2$ are most likely produced by other pathways. Therefore, G6PD deficiency cannot be considered as major risk factor for male infertility.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.239-249
• /
• 1999

The role of amino acids in culture media for IVF-ET was examined in a total of 76 cycles. Patients received clomiphene citrate (CC) followed by hMG or GnRH-a combined with gonadotropins (FSH/hMG) for controlled ovarian hyperstimulation. Severe male (<$4{\times}10^6$ motile sperm) or age factor (>39 y) patients were excluded in this study. Pregnancy was classified as clinical if a gestational sac or fetal cardiac activity was seen on ultrasound. No significant differences were found in age, duration of infertility, follicle size, the level of $E_2$ on the day of hCG injection, the mean number of oocytes retrieved, total motile sperm count, fertilization rate and the mean number of embryos transferred between bHTF (without amino acids) and mHTF (with amino acids) groups. However, total ampules of gonadotropins were higher (p<0.01) in mHTF group than bHTF group. Significantly (p<0.05) more clinical pregnancies were recorded in mHTF group (13/30) compared with bHTF group (9/46). The multiple pregnancy rates were 11.1% in bHTF group and 7.7% in mHTF group. There were one ectopic pregnancy in mHTF group and one heterotopic pregnancy in bHTF group. Abortion rates were 22.2% in bHTF group and 7.7% in mHTF, respectively. The ongoing pregnancy or livebirth rate was significantly (p<0.05) higher in mHTF group (12/30) than bHTF group (7/46). These results suggest that the addition of amino acids in culture media is essential for culture of zygotes in vitro and adjustment of energy substrates in phosphate-free culture media appears to be beneficial for human IVF-ET procedure.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.183-190
• /
• 2000

연구목적: 포유류의 착상은 배아가 모체의 자궁벽에 매몰되는 현상으로 부착과 침투 과정을 거쳐 진행되며, 이 과정은 스테로이드 호르몬, 성장인자, 세포점착분자, 그리고 cytokine 등의 상호작용으로 이루어진다. 이 시기에 Interleukin-1 (IL-1)과 leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) 등이 발현되는 것으로 알려져 있다. 본 실험에서는 이들의 발현이 착상과정에 어떠한 역할을 하는지 그 상관관계를 알아보고자 하였다. 재료 및 방법: 착상 전후의 배아와 자궁내막세포에서 LIF 유전자의 발현양상과 $IL-1{\beta}$와 IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra)를 처리한 LIF 유전자의 발현양상을 역전사중합효소연쇄반응 (RT-PCR)을 통해 비교하였다. 결과: 배아에서의 LIF 유전자 발현은 in vivo와 in vitro 모두에서 상실기와 포배기에 발현되었고, 자궁내막에서는 임신 1일과 4일째에 발현되었는데, 상실기보다는 포배기에, 그리고 임신 1일보다는 착상시기인 4일째의 자궁내막세포에서 발현양이 많은 것으로 나타났다. 자궁내막세포를 배양한 경우 LIF 유전자는 in vivo에서의 발현양상과 동일하게 임신 1일과 4일에 발현되었으며, 배양액에 $IL-1{\beta}$(500pgml)를 처리하였을 경우 LIF 유전자가 초기 임신 (1~5일) 중 발현되는 것으로 나타났다. 2-세포기 배아의 배양시에 $IL-1{\beta}$를 처리한 경우 8-세포기부터 LIF 유전자가 발현되었으며, 또한 IL-1ea(60 ng/ml)를 배양액에 첨가하였을 경우에는 임신1일째 자궁내막에서는 LIF 유전자가 발현되지 않은 반면, 임신 4일째의 자궁내막세포와 상실기, 포배기 배아 모두에서 LIF 유전자 발현이 감소하는 경향을 보였다. 결론: 이러한 결과는 착상 전후 배아와 자궁내막세포에서 IL-1에 의해 LIF 유전자 발현이 조절되며, 그 결과 착상에 영향을 줄 수 있다는 것을 의미한다. 또한 배아와 자궁내막세포에서 IL-1이 LIF 유전자 발현에 영향을 주는 것으로 보아 착상을 위해 IL-1과 LIF의 상호작용이 중요한 요인이라는 것을 확인할 수 있었다.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.419-432
• /
• 1999

Objective: To establish the evaluation system of the quality of oocytes on the basis of the incidence of cumulus cells apoptosis, to investigate the relationships beween the incidence of cumulus cells and the outcomes of IVF-ET. Method: Thirth-four cycles undergoing controlled ovarian hyperstimulation for IVF-ET with tubal infertility (23 cycles) or unexplained infertility (11 cycles) were included in this study. Cumulus cell masses surrounding mature oocyte and co-culture of embryos with autologous cumulus cells during IVF-ET process. The incidence of apoptosis in cumulus cells was assessed by apoptosis detection kit fluorescein. The effect of co-culture using cumulus cells and the incidence of cumulus cells apoptosis. Results: The results were as follows: 1. The incidence of apoptosis in cumulus cells markedly increased in patients aged 40 or over, while the fertilization rate was greatly decreased in those age group. 2. Apoptosis in cumulus cells was found in both the fertilized oocytes and unfertilized oocytes, but the incidence of apoptosis was higher in unfertilized oocytes. 3. There is no clear correlation between apoptosis in cumulus cells and the number of oocytes retrieved. However, the incidence of apoptosis was increased when the number of oocytes retrieved was 5 and fewer in comparison with $6{\sim}10$. 4. Embryo grade was significantly affected by the incidence of apoptosis in cumulus cells. 5. Pregnancy rate of IVF-ET per cycle was 29.4%, and the pregnant group had the higher fertilization rate and a significantly lower incidence of apoptosis in cumulus cells compared with the nonpregnant group. 6. When cumulus cells were used as helper cells in the co-culture of the embryo, in vitro activity of cumulus cells based on morphological change and proliferation did not influence the quality of embryo, but was closely associated with the implantation rate and pregnancy rate, which was enhanced when morphological changes and proliferation of cumulus cells was more active. 7. This difference in the outcome of IVF-ET according to in vitro activity of cumulus cells used for co-cultue was not associated with the incidence of apoptosis in cumulus cells; but rather had likely relations with the different secretion pattern of protein, which may be an embryo trophic factor by cumulus cells. Conclusion: These results suggest that the incidence of apoptosis in cumulus cells can be used in predicting oocyte qualities and the outcomes of IVF-ET. And the effect of co-culture largely depends on the in vitro activity of cumulus cells as well.