Molecular and culture-based assessment of the microbiome in a zebrafish (Danio rerio) housing system during set-up and equilibration.

Background: Zebrafish used in research settings are often housed in recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) which rely on the system microbiome, typically enriched in a biofiltration substrate, to remove the harmful ammonia generated by fish via oxidation. Commercial RAS must be allowed to equilibrate following installation, before fish can be introduced. There is little information available regarding the bacterial community structure in commercial zebrafish housing systems, or the time-point at which the system or biofilter reaches a microbiological equilibrium in RAS in general.

Identifying Mechanisms of Endometriosis-Associated Reduced Fecundity in a Rat Model: Novel Insights toward Understanding Human Infertility.

The existence of endometriosis has been known since at least the nineteenth century, yet the lack of understanding of causes of infertility and therefore inadequate treatment approaches in endometriosis creates a significant challenge in reproductive medicine. Women worldwide suffer not only pain and infertility but also economical, societal, and physiological burdens. Studies of reproductive events in women are difficult to conduct due to a host of confounding personal and environmental factors and ethically limited due to the very nature of working with reproductive tissues and cells, especially embryos.

Improved Murine Blastocyst Quality and Development in a Single Culture Medium Compared to Sequential Culture Media.

Objective: Validate single versus sequential culture media for murine embryo development.

Design: Prospective laboratory experiment.

Setting: Assisted Reproduction Laboratory.

Elevated peritoneal fluid TNF-α incites ovarian early growth response factor 1 expression and downstream protease mediators: a correlation with ovulatory dysfunction in endometriosis.

Endometriosis-associated infertility manifests itself via multiple, poorly understood mechanisms. Our goal was to characterize signaling pathways, between peritoneal endometriotic lesions and the ovary, leading to failed ovulation. Genome-wide microarray analysis comparing ovarian tissue from an in vivo endometriosis model in the rat (Endo) with controls (Sham) identified 22 differentially expressed genes, including transiently expressed early growth response factor 1 (Egr1).

Haptoglobin expression in endometrioid adenocarcinoma of the uterus.

Objective: Elevated serum haptoglobin (Hp) concentrations have been reported in patients with malignant diseases. We have shown that Hp is produced by and localizes only in the stroma and not the epithelium of endometriotic lesions, which share many characteristics of carcinoma. Furthermore, Hp mRNA and protein are found exclusively in the stroma of eutopic endometrium from women with endometriosis and not those without endometriosis.

Partial morphological and functional characterization of the corpus allatum-corpus cardiacum complex from the two-spotted stinkbug, Perillus bioculatus (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae).

Selected morphological and physiological properties of the corpus allatum (CA)-corpus cardiacum (CC) complex from the two-spotted stinkbug, Perillus bioculatus (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), were studied. The CAs play an important role in insect physiology because of their production of the juvenile hormones (JHs), i.e.

Development and partial characterization of heliothine cell lines from embryonic and differentiated tissues.

The goal of this study was to generate cell lines from a variety of insect tissues that could be useful for developing in vitro assays with tissue-specific properties. In this article, we describe the establishment of new cell cultures from differentiated (primarily neural) and undifferentiated tissues (primarily embryonic) and their initial characterization. Cell lines were established from the following tissues of the budworm, Heliothis virescens, and the bollworm, Helicoverpa zea: larval ventral nerve cords (4 lines), larval midguts (1 line), adult ovaries (1 line), and embryonic tissues (11 lines).