Effect of chronic exposure to lead on estrogen action in the prepubertal rat uterus.

Lead is a widely spread environmental pollutant known to affect both male and female reproductive systems in humans and in experimental animals. The present study investigated the effect of a chronic exposure to lead on different parameters of estrogen stimulation in the uteri of prepubertal rats. Chronic exposure to lead enhanced some parameters of estrogen stimulation, inhibited other estrogenic responses, while the remainder were unaltered.

Imprinting: perinatal exposures cause the development of diseases during the adult age.

Since the early reports linking the development of clear cell cervicovaginal adenocarcinoma in young women with diethylstilbestrol treatment of their mothers during pregnancy, it became clear that perinatal exposure to several substances may induce irreversible alterations, that can be detected later in life. Current evidence suggests that these substances induce, by the mechanism of imprinting, alterations of the differentiation of several cell-types, resulting in the development of disease during the adult age. The most known delayed effects to prenatal exposure to agents displaying hormone action, pollutants, food additives and natural food components, substances of abuse and stress by the mechanism of imprinting are described.

[Patients with rheumatoid arthritis: study of the correlation between density of glucocorticoid receptors in synovial cells and clinical response to steroidal treatment].

Background: The target cellular response to glucocorticoids is proportional to the concentrations or affinity of specific receptors to these substances.

Aim: To look for a correlation between glucocorticoid receptor concentrations in synovial wall cells and the clinical response to steroidal treatment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Patients And Methods: Twenty eight patients with rheumatoid arthritis were studied.