Objective: A pill containing ulipristal acetate (UPA) is used for emergency contraception (EC). Considering that, following its intake, spermatozoa may be exposed to UPA in the female genital tract we intended to evaluate sperm functions after incubation with this compound.
Methods: Motile spermatozoa were selected by swim-up and were incubated under capacitating conditions with UPA (at concentrations of 1, 10, 100, 1,000, and 10,000 ng/ml) or control medium. The main outcome measures were sperm vitality, sperm protein tyrosine phosphorylation (TyrP), spontaneous acrosomal reaction (AR), and human follicular fluid (hFF)-induced AR.
Results: Sperm vitality and TyrP pattern were similar between spermatozoa exposed to UPA or control. In addition, spontaneous AR ranged from 14.0 ±1.5% to 18.0 ±1.9% after exposure to UPA or control medium without significant differences, and UPA did not prevent hFF-induced AR.
Conclusions: Incubation of sperm with UPA at concentrations around the expected plasma levels after ingestion of this EC pill (˜100-200 ng/ml) did not modify the signal transduction of TyrP involved in sperm capacitation. Moreover, UPA showed no agonist effect on progesterone receptors because it did not induce AR. Considering that progesterone in hFF is essential for AR induction, and UPA did not prevent the hFF-induced AR, an antagonist action of UPA on the AR is unlikely.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/13625187.2012.725877 | DOI Listing |
Unlabelled: Chronic back pain (CBP) is the leading cause of disability affecting 1 in 10 people worldwide. Symptoms are marked by persistent lower back pain, reduced mobility, and heightened cold sensitivity. Here, we utilize a mouse model of CBP induced by injecting urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA), a proinflammatory agent in the fibrinolytic pathway, between the L2/L3 lumbar vertebrae.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRheumatol Ther
January 2025
OPAL Rheumatology Ltd, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Introduction: This study sought to describe treatment patterns, persistence, and effectiveness of upadacitinib (UPA) alone and compared to other Janus kinase inhibitors (JAKis) or tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFis) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
Methods: This retrospective, non-interventional study used the OPAL dataset, derived from electronic medical records. Patients initiated UPA (N = 2624), other JAKis (baricitinib and tofacitinib [N = 925]), or TNFis (adalimumab, etanercept, certolizumab, golimumab, infliximab [N = 3540]) between May 2020 and March 2023.
Theriogenology
December 2024
Clinic for Horses - Unit for Reproductive Medicine, University of Veterinary Medicine, Hannover, Foundation, Buenteweg 15, 30559 Hanover, Germany; ReproTraining, Rolandstrasse 62, 33415 Verl, Germany. Electronic address:
Little is known about the health status of foals born alive from mares treated for placental disease. The aims of the present study were (1) to compare the neonatal health status and health development during the rearing period of foals born from mares treated for ultrasonographically assessed placental abnormalities (UPA) to age-matched healthy foals from the same warmblood stud and (2) analyze the influence of mare's placental health on colostrum quality. Foals (n = 127) born from mares with UPA (UPA group; P) in 2017-2019 were compared to 127 foals born from healthy mares (control group; C).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Immunol
January 2025
Department of Immunology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacký University Olomouc and University Hospital, Olomouc, Czechia.
Introduction: Glucocorticoids (GCs) are widely used as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), leading to high cumulative doses in long-term treated patients. The impact of a high cumulative GC dose on the systemic inflammatory response in RA remains poorly understood.
Methods: We investigated long-treated patients with RA (n = 72, median disease duration 14 years) through blood counts and the serum levels of 92 inflammation-related proteins, and disease activity was assessed using the Simple Disease Activity Index (SDAI).
Nature
January 2025
Laboratory of Gene Regulation and Signal Transduction, Departments of Pharmacology and Pathology, School of Medicine, University of California San Diego (UCSD), La Jolla, CA, USA.
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) originates from differentiated hepatocytes undergoing compensatory proliferation in livers damaged by viruses or metabolic-dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH). While increasing HCC risk, MASH triggers p53-dependent hepatocyte senescence, which we found to parallel hypernutrition-induced DNA breaks. How this tumour-suppressive response is bypassed to license oncogenic mutagenesis and enable HCC evolution was previously unclear.
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