Search

Objective: To compare LH, FSH, P, and E(2) levels obtained from blood spot vs. plasma (single-visit study) and to determine whether blood spots can document circulating hormone levels during ovulatory cycles (menstrual-cycle study).Design: Cross-sectional study.Setting: Academic center.Patient(s): Women 18-35 years of age with regular menstrual cycles and no recent use of hormonal contraception.Intervention(s): Women contributed both a blood spot sample from a finger-stick and a plasma sample through venipuncture on a random day within their menstrual cycle (n = 100, single study visit). Five additional women were followed for an entire menstrual cycle with biweekly venipuncture and daily self-collected blood spot sampling. Samples were analyzed for FSH, LH, P, and E(2).Main Outcome Measure(s): Correlation between blood spot and plasma levels.Result(s): Significant positive correlations were found between the blood spot and plasma samples in the single-visit study (r(2): FSH, 0.91; LH, 0.93; P, 0.83; and E(2,) 0.70). Two of the 5 menstrual-cycle study women had ovulatory cycles based on P levels (>3 ng/mL) and an LH surge. Daily blood spot sampling was better able to document hormonal changes than biweekly venipuncture.Conclusion(s): Blood spot monitoring of FSH, LH, P, and, to a lesser extent, E(2), appears to be as valid as traditional plasma assays for clinical research and care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Circulating levels of Ang-2 and sTie-2 receptor were detectable but invariant in women during COS cycles. During the postimplantation period, the rise in Ang-2 (but not sTie-2) levels probably reflects placental rather than luteal production. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objective: To determine whether angiopoietin (ANGPT)-1 and -2 are detectable in the circulation of nonhuman primates and women and whether these levels fluctuate in association with ovarian activity.Design: Prospective.Setting: National Primate Research Center, medical center, and infertility clinic.Patient(s): Adult female rhesus monkeys; 15 women donating oocytes for infertility treatment.Intervention(s): Controlled ovarian stimulation with gonadotropins, removal of the corpus luteum and ovaries, oocyte retrieval, and ET.Main Outcome Measure(s): Circulating levels of ANGPT-1 and ANGPT-2.Result(s): Serum ANGPT-1 and ANGPT-2 levels were detectable and invariant in maintaining an ANGPT-1 to -2 ratio >1 in [1] macaques over the course of the natural menstrual cycle, during a controlled ovulation protocol, and after removal of the corpus luteum or ovaries and [2] women undergoing controlled ovarian simulation. In contrast, the ANGPT-1 to -2 ratio was markedly decreased (<<1) at mid-to-late gestation in macaques and in the follicular fluid of women undergoing controlled ovarian simulation because of increased levels of ANGPT-2.Conclusion(s): The ovary and its dominant structures are not major contributors to circulating levels of ANGPT-1 or ANGPT-2. The physiologic importance of the rising levels of ANGPT-2 after the luteal-placental shift in pregnancy is unknown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To examine the small antral follicle (SAF) cohort in ovaries of adult rhesus monkeys after consumption of a Western-style diet (WSD), with or without chronically elevated androgen levels since before puberty.Design: Cholesterol or T (n = 6 per group) implants were placed SC in female rhesus macaques beginning at 1 year of age (prepubertal), with addition of a WSD (high fat/fructose) at 5.5 years (menarche approximately 2.6 years). Ovaries were collected at 7 years of age. One ovary per female was embedded in paraffin for morphologic and immunohistochemical analyses. The SAFs (<2.5 mm) were dissected from the other ovary obtained at or near menses in a subgroup of females (n = 3 per group) and processed for microarray analyses of the SAF transcriptome. Ovaries of adult monkeys consuming a standard macaque diet (low in fats and sugars) were obtained at similar stages of the menstrual cycle and used as controls for all analyses.Setting: Primate research center.Animal(s): Adult, female rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta).Intervention(s): None.Main Outcome Measures: Histologic analyses, SAF counts and morphology, protein localization and abundance in SAFs, transcriptome in SAFs (messenger RNAs [mRNAs]).Result(s): Compared with controls, consumption of a WSD, with and without T treatment, increased the numbers of SAFs per ovary, owing to the presence of more atretic follicles. Numbers of granulosa cells expressing cellular proliferation markers (pRb and pH3) was greater in healthy SAFs, whereas numbers of cells expressing the cell cycle inhibitor (p21) was higher in atretic SAFs. Intense CYP17A1 staining was observed in the theca cells of SAFs from WSD with or without T groups, compared with controls. Microarray analyses of the transcriptome in SAFs isolated from WSD and WSD plus T-treated females and controls consuming a standard diet identified 1,944 genes whose mRNA levels changed twofold or more among the three groups. Further analyses identified several gene pathways altered by WSD and/or WSD plus T associated with steroid, carbohydrate, and lipid metabolism, plus ovarian processes. Alterations in levels of several SAF mRNAs are similar to those observed in follicular cells from women with polycystic ovary syndrome.Conclusion(s): These data indicate that consumption of a WSD high in fats and sugars in the presence and absence of chronically elevated T alters the structure and function of SAFs within primate ovaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the effect of slow cryopreservation on the morphology and function of primate primordial follicles within ovarian tissue slices.Design: Fresh monkey ovarian tissue was frozen by slow cryopreservation and thawed for analysis of morphologic and functional parameters.Setting: University-affiliated laboratory.Animals: Rhesus monkey ovarian tissue.Intervention(s): None.Main Outcome Measure(s): Histologic analysis, follicle counting, assessment of protein abundance and localization.Result(s): After freezing and thawing, 89% of the primordial follicles maintained their laminar-based architecture, with sizes close to those of fresh fixed follicles. Molecular markers of early follicle health (activin subunits and the phosphorylated form of the signaling protein Smad2 [pSmad2]) were present in fresh and frozen-thawed primordial follicles. Stroma cells, but not follicles, had a higher level of TUNEL staining. Granulosa cells within the follicles of frozen-thawed ovarian tissue cultured for 48 hours had the capacity to proliferate and sustained expression of the activin subunits and nuclear pSmad2.Conclusion(s): This study provides evidence that markers of early follicle growth and development are preserved after slow cryopreservation and thaw, with little effect on follicle morphology and function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To determine the practicality of controlled ovulation of the dominant follicle as a technique to study meiotic maturation of oocytes during contraceptive research, we developed a technique for aspiration of the single dominant follicle using a dual-needle continuous irrigation technique 27 hours after an ovulatory stimulus. All of the oocytes (3/3) recovered from control animals, but only 1/6 (17%) of oocytes from animals treated with the meiotic inhibitor ORG 9935 exhibited germinal vesicle breakdown, indicating resumption of meiosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]