Comparisons of matrix metalloproteinase 1, 2, and 9 activity in periovulatory follicular fluid from natural and stimulated menstrual cycles.

We studied the activity levels of matrix metalloproteinase 1, 2, and 9 in periovulatory fluids from naturally occurring menstrual cycles versus those from samples taken from menstrual cycles stimulated with clomiphene citrate or recombinant stimulating hormone. No statistically significant differences were found.

Midluteal matrix metalloproteinase and tissue-inhibiting metalloproteinase plasma levels after embryo transfer.

This study demonstrates significant differences in the midluteal concentrations of active matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-1, MMP-2, and total MMP-3 between patients who conceived and those who did not after day 3 ET.

A case of gonadal dysgenesis, breast development, Graves' disease, and low bone mass.

Objective: To describe a case of XY gonadal dysgenesis with Tanner stage 4 breast development in the absence of a hormone-producing gonadal neoplasm and with Graves' disease and low bone mass.

Methods: The clinical features, laboratory results, and cytogenetic findings in the patient are presented, and the potential mechanisms of breast development are discussed. A MEDLINE search was performed, and related articles in the English-language literature published between 1955 and 2001 were reviewed.

Spontaneous pregnancy in a woman with 45,X/47,XXX mosaicism in both serum and germ cell lines. A case report.

Background: This is the first published case report of pregnancy in a women with 45, X/47, XXX mosaicism in both blood and germ cell lines.

Case: The patient conceived, and analysis of ovarian tissue confirmed a karyotype of 45, X/47, XXX.

Conclusion: Women with a 45, X/47, XXX karyotype in the germ cell line can conceive, as this case demonstrates.

Modulation of T-cell CD3-zeta chain expression in early pregnancy.

Problem: To assess the modulation of T-cell CD3-zeta chain expression by a factor in the sera of women, prior to egg retrieval and 14 days after an in vitro fertilization (IVF) and to delineate the mechanism of this modulation.

Method Of Study: In this prospective study, blood samples were obtained from 17 patients during an IVF cycle, prior to human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), and 14 days after embryo return. Serum was incubated with cultured T-lymphocytes (Jurkat cells) for 96 hr and expression of CD3-zeta chain was evaluated.

Modulation of T-cell CD3-zeta chain expression during normal pregnancy.

The objectives of this study were to assess the modulation of T-cell CD3-zeta expression by factor(s) present in sera of pregnant women, to correlate this activity with markers of T-cell function associated with pregnancy, and to identify the presence of a circulating pregnancy-associated factor responsible for the suppression of CD3-zeta chain. The suppression of TcR/CD3-zeta expression on cultured T-lymphocytes (Jurkat cells) by sera and amniotic fluids from pregnant women was examined by Western immunoblots and quantitated by densitometry. This suppression was correlated with the induction of T-cell apoptosis and reduced production of IL-2.