Equine Placentitis in Mares Induces the Secretion of Pro-Inflammatory Cytokine IL-1β and the Active Extracellular Matrix Metalloproteinase (MMP)-9.

Equine placentitis is characterized by infection and inflammation of the placenta. Different biomarkers associated with this inflammatory response have been evaluated in experimentally induced equine placentitis, but not in pregnant mares with spontaneous placentitis. The aim of the current study was to determine the concentration of IL-1β and the activity of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in the serum of healthy mares and mares with placentitis on days 240 and 320 of gestation to explore whether these biomarkers are associated with equine maternal placentitis and/or with the birth of an infected or inviable foals.

The differential contribution of spinal α- and α-adrenoceptors in tonic and acute evoked nociception in the rat.

Spinal α-adrenoceptor induces analgesia by neuronal inhibition of primary afferent fibers. This family receptor coupled to G proteins can be subdivided into three functional subtypes: α, α and α-adrenoceptors, and current evidence on spinal analgesia supports the relevance of α and seems to exclude the role of α, but the functional contribution of α-adrenoceptors remains elusive. The present study was designed to pharmacologically dissect the contribution of spinal α-adrenoceptor subtypes modulating tonic or acute peripheral nociception.

Differential proMMP-2 and proMMP-9 secretion in human pre-implantation embryos at day 5 of development.

Morphological development is the most common non-invasive criterion used to select in vitro human embryos for implantation. With this criterion, however, embryos in cellular arrest go unnoticed. A more accurate criterion is needed to improve the success rate of implantation.

MiR-191-5p is upregulated in culture media of implanted human embryo on day fifth of development.

Background: Morphological features are the most common criteria used to select human embryos for transfer to a receptive uterine cavity. However, such characteristics are not valid for embryos in cellular arrest. Even aneuploid embryos can have normal morphology, and some euploid embryos have aberrant morphology.