Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 1989.

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Anatomy / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 1999. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vi, 125 p. : ill. Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 107-122).

In order to evaluate the short term metabolic effects of gossypol on the testes as well as any possible effects on the secondary sex organs, Balb C mice were injected subcutaneously with various doses of gossypol (0.25‐25.0 mg/kg body weight) in corn oil for 10 days. Wet weights of several different secondary sex reproductive organs decreased during gossypol treatment. However, wet weights of the testes during treatment remained equal to or greater than control values. Following 10 days of gossypol treatment, incorporation of [3H]thymidine or [3H]amino acids into trichloroacetic acid precipitable macromolecules was inhibited in the seminal vesicles and ventral prostates normalized to either DNA or wet weight. Treatment with gossypol also had an inhibitory effect on epididymal sperm count at the two highest doses. These results demonstrate that gossypol will decrease sperm count at high dose levels after treatment of male mice for as short as 10 days. However, its overall effects are not limited to the testes and spermatogenesis but, in addition, it has dramatic inhibitory effects on protein and nuclei acid metabolism in the secondary sex organs.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-11-10T11:09:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2014-02-26Bitstream added on 2014-11-10T11:57:43Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000789914.pdf: 1497556 bytes, checksum: 733d284c8aacfd301e7a417adb15a971 (MD5) / A vesiculite seminal possui grande relevância na clínica reprodutiva devido à dificuldade de tratamento, elevados índices de recidiva, risco de contaminação de fêmeas com agentes patogênicos, inutilização de animais e baixos índices de fertilidade. O tratamento local tem sido apontado por diversos autores como a melhor alternativa terapêutica, porém nenhum estudo avaliou seus efeitos na qualidade e longevidade seminal. Nesse sentido, os objetivos do presente estudo incluíram: investigar quais são as principais bactérias envolvidas na enfermidade e os principais fatores de risco para os garanhões; avaliar e comparar o efeito do tratamento local de vesiculite seminal quanto aos índices de cinética e morfologia espermática, integridade de membrana plasmática, porcentagem de leucócitos e contagem de unidades formadoras de colônias (UFC) de amostras seminais frescas, refrigeradas e congeladas e o teor de óxido nítrico no plasma seminal, antes (M0), após uma semana (M1) e um mês (M2) da terapia. Os resultados obtidos permitiram inferir que a vesiculite seminal foi mais prevalente em animais adultos e idosos, a evolução da enfermidade ocorreu de forma crônica em todos os animais selecionados, a monta natural constituiu um fator predisponente para o surgimento da doença, a coloração amarelada do sêmen e a dificuldade na ejaculação são sinais indicativos de alteração da glândula e a bactéria mais prevalente envolvida na etiopatogenia da infecção foi a Pseudomonas aeruginosa. De maneira geral, o tratamento local levou a uma melhora da qualidade seminal após uma semana (M1), no sêmen a fresco, refrigerado e congelado, quanto aos índices de cinética espermática e integridade de membrana plasmática (p<0,05). No sêmen a fresco promoveu redução do volume seminal, incremento da concentração espermática, redução da porcentagem de leucócitos e de UFC/mL no M1 em relação aos demais momentos ... / Seminal vesiculitis has great relevance in reproductive clinic due to the difficulty of treatment, high rates of recurrence, risk of female contamination with pathogenic agents, retirement of animals and low fertility rates. Local treatment has been reported as the best therapeutic alternative, although no other studies have evaluated its effects on seminal quality and longevity. The aims of this study included: to investigate what are the main bacteria involved in the disease and the risk factors for stallions; to evaluate and to compare the effect of local treatment of seminal vesiculitis on the sperm kinetic parameters, morphology and viability (plasma membrane integrity), percentage of leukocytes and counting colony forming units (CFU) of fresh, cooled and frozen semen samples and the content of nitric oxide in the seminal plasma, before (M0) and after one week (M1) and one month (M2) therapy. The results allow us to infer that the seminal vesiculitis was more prevalent in adults and aged animals, the evolution of the disease appeared chronically in all selected animals, natural breeding was a risk factor for onset of the disorder, the bege coulor of semen and ejaculatory dysfunction were signs indicative of abnormalities in the gland and the most common bacteria involved in the pathogenesis of the infection was Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In general, the local treatment produced an improvement in semen quality after a week (M1) in fresh, cooled and frozen semen on the kinetic parameters and sperm viability (p<0.05). In fresh semen promoted reduction in the volume of ejaculate, sperm concentration increased, reducing the percentage of leukocytes and CFU/mL in M1 compared to the other moments (p<0.05). In frozen semen promoted reduction of lipid peroxidation and of ROS content in M1 compared to other moments (p<0.05). The cooled semen for 24 hours at 5°C and 15°C demonstrated similar efficiency in the pre and post-treatment ...

Orientador: Frederico Ozanam Papa / Banca: João Carlos Pinheiro Ferreira / Banca: André Maciel Crespilho / Resumo: A vesiculite seminal possui grande relevância na clínica reprodutiva devido à dificuldade de tratamento, elevados índices de recidiva, risco de contaminação de fêmeas com agentes patogênicos, inutilização de animais e baixos índices de fertilidade. O tratamento local tem sido apontado por diversos autores como a melhor alternativa terapêutica, porém nenhum estudo avaliou seus efeitos na qualidade e longevidade seminal. Nesse sentido, os objetivos do presente estudo incluíram: investigar quais são as principais bactérias envolvidas na enfermidade e os principais fatores de risco para os garanhões; avaliar e comparar o efeito do tratamento local de vesiculite seminal quanto aos índices de cinética e morfologia espermática, integridade de membrana plasmática, porcentagem de leucócitos e contagem de unidades formadoras de colônias (UFC) de amostras seminais frescas, refrigeradas e congeladas e o teor de óxido nítrico no plasma seminal, antes (M0), após uma semana (M1) e um mês (M2) da terapia. Os resultados obtidos permitiram inferir que a vesiculite seminal foi mais prevalente em animais adultos e idosos, a evolução da enfermidade ocorreu de forma crônica em todos os animais selecionados, a monta natural constituiu um fator predisponente para o surgimento da doença, a coloração amarelada do sêmen e a dificuldade na ejaculação são sinais indicativos de alteração da glândula e a bactéria mais prevalente envolvida na etiopatogenia da infecção foi a Pseudomonas aeruginosa. De maneira geral, o tratamento local levou a uma melhora da qualidade seminal após uma semana (M1), no sêmen a fresco, refrigerado e congelado, quanto aos índices de cinética espermática e integridade de membrana plasmática (p<0,05). No sêmen a fresco promoveu redução do volume seminal, incremento da concentração espermática, redução da porcentagem de leucócitos e de UFC/mL no M1 em relação aos demais momentos ... / Abstract: Seminal vesiculitis has great relevance in reproductive clinic due to the difficulty of treatment, high rates of recurrence, risk of female contamination with pathogenic agents, retirement of animals and low fertility rates. Local treatment has been reported as the best therapeutic alternative, although no other studies have evaluated its effects on seminal quality and longevity. The aims of this study included: to investigate what are the main bacteria involved in the disease and the risk factors for stallions; to evaluate and to compare the effect of local treatment of seminal vesiculitis on the sperm kinetic parameters, morphology and viability (plasma membrane integrity), percentage of leukocytes and counting colony forming units (CFU) of fresh, cooled and frozen semen samples and the content of nitric oxide in the seminal plasma, before (M0) and after one week (M1) and one month (M2) therapy. The results allow us to infer that the seminal vesiculitis was more prevalent in adults and aged animals, the evolution of the disease appeared chronically in all selected animals, natural breeding was a risk factor for onset of the disorder, the bege coulor of semen and ejaculatory dysfunction were signs indicative of abnormalities in the gland and the most common bacteria involved in the pathogenesis of the infection was Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In general, the local treatment produced an improvement in semen quality after a week (M1) in fresh, cooled and frozen semen on the kinetic parameters and sperm viability (p<0.05). In fresh semen promoted reduction in the volume of ejaculate, sperm concentration increased, reducing the percentage of leukocytes and CFU/mL in M1 compared to the other moments (p<0.05). In frozen semen promoted reduction of lipid peroxidation and of ROS content in M1 compared to other moments (p<0.05). The cooled semen for 24 hours at 5°C and 15°C demonstrated similar efficiency in the pre and post-treatment ... / Mestre

[Truncated abstract] Intracellular communication between osteoclasts and osteoblasts is imperative to maintain bone integrity. A myriad of molecules are responsible for regulating osteoblast and osteoclast activity. In particular, it is well documented that osteoblast-derived factors are crucial in directly controlling osteoclast formation and function. Since bone formation is coupled to bone resorption, it would be expected that osteoclasts also have some role in regulating the growth and function of osteoblast cells. However, despite extensive research upon osteoclast and osteoblast biology, the mechanisms by which osteoclasts regulate osteoblast growth and function is not well understood. In an attempt to further elucidate the mechanisms by which osteoclasts and osteoblasts communicate, the technique of subtractive hybridisation was used to identify a novel osteoclastderived factor identical to that of mouse Seminal Vesicle Secretion VII (SVS VII). Previous characterisation of the gene in bone demonstrated that SVS VII was abundantly and specifically expressed by mature osteoclasts (Phan, 2004). Additional research hinted that SVS VII acted as a novel osteoclast-derived factor, that by paracrine mechanisms, targeted osteoblast function (Phan, 2004). However, it remained open as to whether the SVS VII molecule did uniquely target the osteoblast, and whether this interaction influenced bone formation in vivo. Therefore, this thesis endeavoured to functionally characterise the role of the SVS VII molecule in the bone environment. ... Further work is needed to identigy a clear consensus binding sequence, to determine the specificity of the interaction between SVS VII protein and each phage clone, and to isolate a specific binding partner for SVS VII. In conclusion, the studies of this thesis sought to characterise the significance of SVS VII expression by mature osteoclasts, relative to its effects on osteoblast behaviour, but failed to conclusively determine a role for SVS VII in bone. Given that the effects of SVS VII on in vitro osteoblast activity and function are minimal, it is doubtful that SVS VII primarily acts as a paracrine factor integral to osteoblast function. Therefore, these findings conflict with those presented previously (Phan, 2004). However, it was demonstrated that SVS VII treatment was associated with in vivo effect on the skeleton, suggesting that SVS VII may target other elements of the bone microenvironment. Via mechanisms not yet understood, which possibly involves additional factors of the bone 11 extracellular matrix, SVS VII may target a subset of osteoprogenitor cells within the bone environment and act to regulate their proliferation. Therefore, SVS VII may enhance osteogenic precursor cell number at sites of bone formation which would increase the pool of cells that can differentiate down the osteoblast linage and contribute to bone formation. In this regard, SVS VII might function in a manner homologous to the Ly-6 molecule Sca-1 and act as an important factor that maintains a balance between the bone formation and resorption process. Clearly, more work focusing on alternative facets of bone biology is needed to identify whether there is a significant role for SVS VII in skeletal tissue.

Glutamate carboxypeptidase II (GCPII) is a transmembrane glycoprotein, which consists of short intracellular and transmembrane domains, and a large extracellular domain possessing carboxypeptidase activity. In the human body, GCPII fulfils a neuromodulatory function in the brain and facilitates folate absorption in the small intestine. In addition to the brain and small intestine, high level of GCPII is also present in the prostate and kidney. However, GCPII function in these tissues has not been determined yet. To study the role of GCPII in detail, several research groups attempted to inactivate GCPII encoding gene Folh1 in mice. Surprisingly, the experiments led to rather conflicting results ranging from embryonic lethality to generation of viable GCPII-deficient mice without any obvious phenotype. This dissertation project aimed to dissect the discrepancy using alternative strategy for gene modification. For this purpose, we designed TALENs that specifically targeted exon 11 of Folh1 gene and manipulated mouse zygotes of C57BL/6NCrl genetic background. We analysed all genetically modified mice of F0 generation for presence of TALEN-mediated mutations and established 5 different GCPII-mutant mouse colonies from founder mice that altogether carried 2 frame-shift mutations and 3 small in-frame...