The respiratory cycle modulates brain potentials, sympathetic activity, and subjective pain sensation induced by noxious stimulation.

To test the hypothesis that a respiratory cycle influences pain processing, we conducted an experimental pain study in 10 healthy volunteers. Intraepidermal electrical stimulation (IES) with a concentric bipolar needle electrode was applied to the hand dorsum at pain perceptual threshold or four times the perceptual threshold to produce first pain during expiration or inspiration either of which was determined by the abrupt change in an exhaled CO2 level. IES-evoked potentials (IESEPs), sympathetic skin response (SSR), digital plethysmogram (DPG), and subjective pain intensity rating scale were simultaneously recorded.

The cellular inhibitor of apoptosis protein-2 is a possible target of novel treatment for endometriosis.

Problem: How is the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) α-induced inhibitor of apoptosis (IAP) protein expression in endometriotic stromal cells (ESCs) involved in cell viability and signaling pathways?

Method Of Study: Endometriotic stromal cells were isolated from ovarian chocolate cysts in 20 patients who underwent laparoscopic surgery. IAP protein expression and IκB phosphorylation were evaluated by Western blot analysis. Interleukin (IL)-8 protein expression and cell proliferation were assessed by ELISA.

Parthenolide reduces cell proliferation and prostaglandin E2 [corrected] in human endometriotic stromal cells and inhibits development of endometriosis in the murine model.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of parthenolide on human endometriotic cells and murine endometriotic lesions.

Design: Experimental study.

Setting: University hospital and laboratory of animal science.

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogues reduce the proliferation of endometrial stromal cells but not endometriotic cells.

Aims: We investigated the potential of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists and GnRH antagonists to inhibit cell proliferation in endometriotic and endometrial stromal cells.

Methods: Twenty patients with ovarian endometriomas and 18 patients with uterine fibromas were recruited. Endometriotic and endometrial stromal cells were obtained from the ovarian chocolate cyst linings and the eutopic endometria of premenopausal women with uterine fibromas, respectively.