Stilbenes in Red Wine: Formation and Biological Potential of Resveratrol and Piceid Dimers.

Resveratrol and its glucoside, piceid, are the primary stilbenes present in wine. These compounds are well known for their pharmaceutical properties. However, these compounds can undergo chemical transformations in wines, such as polymerization in the presence of metallic reagents.

Evidence of Paraoxonases 1, 2, and 3 Expression in Human Ovarian Granulosa Cells.

Increasing evidence suggests that the antioxidant paraoxonase proteins, PON1, PON2, and PON3, have a role in reproduction and may be synthesized by ovarian cells. The aim of this work was to investigate whether human ovarian granulosa cells (GC) express paraoxonases 1, 2, and 3 (PON1, PON2, and PON3) at both the transcriptional and protein levels. Cells were purified from follicle samples of women undergoing ovarian stimulation at oocyte retrieval.

A comprehensive serum lipidome profiling of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

: To perform a comprehensive lipid profiling to evaluate potential lipid metabolic differences between patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and controls, and to provide a more profound understanding of the metabolic abnormalities in ALS. : Twenty patients with ALS and 20 healthy controls were enrolled in a cross-sectional study. Untargeted lipidomics profiling in fasting serum samples were performed by optimized UPLC-MS platforms for broad lipidome coverage.

Oocytes of women who are obese or overweight have lower levels of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids compared with oocytes of women with normal weight.

Objective: To ascertain whether the oocytes of women who are obese or overweight have a different fatty acid (FA) profile than women with normal weight.

Design: Prospective case-control study.

Setting: Two IVF centers.

Ovarian stimulated cycles reduce protection of follicular fluid against free radicals.

Controlled ovarian hyperstimulation cycle with exogenous gonadotropins (COH) is associated with clinical complications. The aim of this work was to determine whether COH alters the physiological antioxidant status of follicular fluid in women with no reproductive dysfunction, compared to the natural cycle (NC). In this longitudinal study, forty-one women (oocyte donors) consecutively underwent NC and COH.

Lower follicular n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid levels are associated with a better response to ovarian stimulation.

Objectives: To analyze in detail the fatty acid (FA) composition of follicular fluid (FF) from two-sized follicles at oocyte retrieval and to determine associations of the FAs from large follicles with the woman's age and the response to ovarian stimulation.

Design: Observational study.

Setting: University and fertility clinic.

Analysis of Protein Oxidative Modifications in Follicular Fluid from Fertile Women: Natural Versus Stimulated Cycles.

Oxidative stress is associated with obstetric complications during ovarian hyperstimulation in women undergoing in vitro fertilization. The follicular fluid contains high levels of proteins, which are the main targets of free radicals. The aim of this work was to determine specific biomarkers of non-enzymatic oxidative modifications of proteins from follicular fluid in vivo, and the effect of ovarian stimulation with gonadotropins on these biomarkers.

Lipid oxidation inhibitory effects and phenolic composition of aqueous extracts from medicinal plants of Colombian Amazonia.

Diverse plants of ethnobotanic interest in Amazonia are commonly used in traditional medicine. We determined the antioxidant potential against lipid peroxidation, the antimicrobial activity, and the polyphenol composition of several Amazonian plants (Brownea rosademonte, Piper glandulosissimum, Piper krukoffii, Piper putumayoense, Solanum grandiflorum, and Vismia baccifera). Extracts from the plant leaf, bark, and stem were prepared as aqueous infusions, as used in folk medicine, and added to rat liver microsomes exposed to iron.

Glutathione peroxidase activity in seminal plasma and its relationship to classical sperm parameters and in vitro fertilization-intracytoplasmic sperm injection outcome.

Objective: To relate the glutathione peroxidase (GPX) activity level in human seminal plasma with standard semen parameters and spermatozoa fertilization potential in terms of fertilization and pregnancy rates in an IVF program.

Design: Prospective study.

Setting: Human Reproduction Unit at Cruces Hospital (Vizcaya, Spain).

Detection of catechol-O-methyltransferase Val158Met polymorphism by a simple one-step tetra-primer amplification refractory mutation system-PCR.

The G-->A transition at nucleotide 21881 of the human catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene represents a functional genetic polymorphism (Val158Met), rendering an enzyme with reduced activity that has been associated with psychiatric disorders and estrogen-related cancers. A new method for the detection of this polymorphism is described, based on the tetra-primer amplification refractory mutation system-polymerase chain reaction (ARMS-PCR), with a single PCR to discriminate both alleles. Two primers amplify a common amplicon independently of the allele considered.