Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology最新文献

CD43 is a heavily glycosylated transmembrane molecule that plays critical roles in leukocyte activation and adhesion. Previously, only hematopoietic cells were thought to normally express CD43. However, our immunohistochemical analysis of normal human testes demonstrates that the N-terminal domain of CD43 is expressed in the cytoplasm of Sertoli and Leydig cells while the C-terminal domain is expressed separately in the nucleus of Sertoli and germ cells. The observation that normal testicular cells express CD43 is entirely novel and indicates that testes function is controlled in ways not previously imagined. In order to begin to identify these CD43-dependent functions, CD43 expression was knocked down in the human germ cell line TCam-2. This knockdown changed the expression of both Transition Protein 1 and Acrosin consistent with spermatid maturation having been driven forward. In addition, down-regulation of CD43 in the mouse Leydig cell line MLTC-1 significantly induced its secretion of estradiol, testosterone and progesterone. Based on these data we propose that CD43 actively inhibits testicular function and its aberrant over-expression may contribute to male infertility. Therapeutics that induce such over-expression may represent a means of effecting male contraception.

Exosomes are nanoscale vesicles that traffic bioactive cargo and modulate cell-cell communication within the ovarian niche. They are pivotal mediators in ovarian microenvironment-related premature ovarian insufficiency (omePOI): pathogenic exosomes propagate injury, whereas therapeutic Exosomes restore homeostasis to shape the niche and influence disease onset and course. However, omePOI still lacks sensitive predictive biomarkers and disease-modifying therapies; moreover, the complexity of the ovarian niche-encompassing extracellular matrix, stromal and immune compartments, vasculature, and metabolic-redox balance-poses substantial translational challenges. In this Review, we first summarize the current clinical challenges in diagnosing and managing omePOI. We then focus on reported correlations between exosomal alterations and omePOI, and postulate mechanisms by which these vesicles influence disease biology across apoptosis/mitochondrial injury, senescence, inflammation and innate-adaptive crosstalk, angiogenesis, fibrosis/extracellular matrix, and metabolic-redox pathways. Finally, we highlight the potential value of exosomal changes as biomarkers for predicting omePOI and discuss exosomal interventions, including mesenchymal stromal cell-derived and engineered Exosomes, as well as exosome-biomaterial composites together with design principles from ovarian tissue engineering.

Objective: The relationship between sedentary behavior and infertility remains ambiguous and contentious. This study seeks to elucidate this association by analyzing data from the 2013-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), coupled with Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses.

Methods: Our analysis comprised 2904 female participants, aged 20 to 49 years, enrolled in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) during the 2013-2018 cycles. Weighted multivariate logistic regression model was employed to examine the association between sedentary behavior and infertility, with sensitivity analysis conducted to validate the robustness of the findings. In addition, we used restricted cubic spline (RCS) curves to explore any non-linear association between sedentary behavior and infertility. A two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis was subsequently conducted using summary-level data from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to investigate the potential causal links between self-reported leisure screen time (LST), sedentary commuting, sedentary behavior at work, and infertility. Causal estimates were primarily obtained with the inverse-variance weighted (IVW), while the weighted median, MR-Egger, and weighted mode were applied as complementary analyses. To evaluate the robustness of these results, horizontal pleiotropy was assessed using the MR-Egger intercept, heterogeneity was examined with Cochran's Q test, and additional sensitivity testing was performed through leave-one-out analyses.

Results: After adjusting for potential confounders, the weighted multivariable logistic regression analysis indicated that although the prevalence of infertility appeared to increase with longer daily sitting time, this association did not reach statistical significance (OR = 1.03, 95% CI: 1.00-1.07, P = 0.066). Results from multiple sensitivity analyses remained largely consistent, supporting the robustness of these findings. In the Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis, no statistically significant causal relationship was observed between genetically predicted sedentary behavior and infertility. Specifically, the inverse variance-weighted (IVW) estimates suggested no robust evidence of causality between leisure screen time (OR = 1.11, 95% CI: 0.10-1.24, P = 0.052), sedentary commuting (OR = 1.19, 95% CI: 0.88-1.62, P = 0.257), or sedentary behavior at work (OR = 0.99, 95% CI: 0.83-1.19, P = 0.930) and infertility.

Conclusion: No statistically significant evidence was found to support an association between sedentary behavior and infertility. Future large-scale prospective studies are warranted to further explore this potential relationship.

Endometriosis is one of the most common gynecological diseases in women and is still one of the most understudied diseases, affecting the daily lives of patients. Although the exact cause of this condition remains unclear, autophagy has been proposed as a potential biological process involved in the disease. Autophagy is a highly conserved catabolic process crucial for the degradation of lysosomes and several cellular components. In recent years, various studies have shown that this biological process could be crucial in endometriosis, with some evidence demonstrating its upregulation and others its downregulation in different study models. Due to this controversy and the potential implications of autophagy as a therapeutic target, this current review highlights significant findings on the involvement of autophagy in endometriosis and explores its potential as a therapeutic target.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the microbiome profile in the cystic fluid of ovarian endometrioma and explore its association with the microbial communities present in the lower and upper reproductive tracts.

Design: A microbial analysis was conducted across multiple compartments of the reproductive tract in patients diagnosed with ovarian endometrioma.

Subjects: Sixteen female patients aged 25-43 years (mean age: 31.56 years) who underwent laparoscopic surgery for ovarian endometrioma at the First Hospital of Putian City between April 2023 and February 2024 were enrolled in this study.

Main outcome measures: 16S rDNA sequencing was employed to characterize the microbiome of ovarian endometrioma and assess its correlations with clinical symptoms, inflammatory markers, and serum CA125 levels RESULTS: Microbial communities were detected in the posterior vaginal fornix, endometrial fluid, peritoneal fluid, and cystic fluid, exhibiting distinct compositional profiles. Community diversity significantly increased along the anatomical gradient from the posterior vaginal fornix to endometrial fluid, peritoneal fluid, and cystic fluid, with the highest microbial diversity observed in the cystic fluid. Lactobacillus was the predominant genus in the posterior vaginal fornix, whereas Escherichia-Shigella was most abundant in endometrial fluid samples. Hydrogenophaga and Brevundimonas were the dominant taxa in both peritoneal and cystic fluids. Notably, the microbial composition of peritoneal fluid showed the greatest similarity to that of cystic fluid, and functional prediction analyses indicated largely overlapping biological functions between these two sites. Furthermore, Spearman correlation analysis revealed significant associations between specific microbial taxa and certain clinical manifestations or inflammatory factors.

Conclusion: This study demonstrates the presence of a unique and highly diverse microbiome within the cystic fluid of ovarian endometrioma. The site-specific microbial profiles and their correlations with clinical parameters suggest a potential role of microbiota in disease pathogenesis through inflammatory and metabolic mechanisms. These findings contribute novel insights that may inform future strategies for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of ovarian endometrioma.