AIM: To investigate the protective effect of auricularia auricular polysaccharide (AAP) on the myocardial injury induced by ischemia and its underlying mechanism. METHODS:AAP was orally administrated to rats at the does of 50, 100 or 200 mg·kg~(-1)·d~(-1) for 20 d. Myocardial injury was induced in anesthetized Sprague - Dawley rats by left anterior descending coronary artery ligation. Myocardial infarct size, the level of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) , the production of lipid peroxidation malondialdehyde (MDA) and protein level of myocardial collagen of the heart were measured. RESULTS: The average myocardial infarct size in AAP groups was significantly smaller than that in ischemia group. The level of serum LDH induced by regional myocardial ischemia was significantly decreased in AAP group compared to ischemia group ( P < 0.01). AAP inhibited the production of MDA and increased the activity of SOD. Furthermore, AAP reduced the protein level of myocardial collagen after ischemia (P < 0.01).CONCLUSION: AAP prevents myocardium from ischemia injury as an antioxidant.

OBJECTIVETo discuss the applied value of rescue intracytoplasmic sperm injection(ICSI) after complete fertilization failure during in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles.

METHODSAfter 16-18 h co-culture with sperm, all the unfertilized oocytes with the first polar body were re-fertilized by ICSI.

RESULTSAfter rescue ICSI, the abnormal fertilization rate was 17.9% and the normal fertilization rate was 42.7%. Twenty-four hours later, the normal cleavage rate of the normal fertilized oocytes was 79.6%. On the day of embryo transfer, the good-quality rate of embryos was 29.7% (22/74). A mean number of 3.4 (54/16) embryos were transferred to the patient during each cycle. Clinical pregnancy was found in 3 cases out of the 16 (18.8%).

CONCLUSIONThe applied value of rescue ICSI may be correlated with the number and maturity of oocytes on the retrieval day.

Female ; Fertilization ; Fertilization in Vitro ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Pregnancy ; Sperm Injections, Intracytoplasmic

Objective To investigate the relationship between serum progesterone level at the day with human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) administration and pregnant outcome from in in-vitro fertilization-embryo transfer(IVF-ET). Methods From Mar. 2002 to Apr. 2007, 786 cycles with serum progesterone measurement on the day of hCG administration for final oocyte maturation in IVF were analyzed retrospectively in Reproductive Medicine Center in First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University.All stimulations were down-regulated with gronadotrophin release hormone agonist (GnRH-a) in both long protocols and short protocols before gonadotrophin stimulation. When the thresholds of serum progesterone were set at 5.5, 6.0,6.5,7.0,7.5,8.0,8.5 and 9.0 nmol/L, respectively. If the level of progesterone was less than the thresholds, those patients were in lower progesterone group, on the contrary, more than the threshold value, those patients were in higher progesterone group. The laboratory results and the clinical outcomes between all patients at lower and higher progesterone group at different thresholds value were analyzed. Results The rate of normal fertilization, quality embryos, successful implantation, chemical pregnancy, clinical pregnancy and live birth did not exhibit remarkable difference between patients with higher and lower serum progesterone level at multiple thresholds on the day of hCG administration in the 786 cycles (P >0.05). However, when the thresholds of serum progesterone were at 8.5 and 9.0 nmol/L, early abortion rates of 27.3% (3/11) and 3/7 in higher progesterone group were significantly higher than 8.8% (26/297) and 8.6% (26/301) in lower progesterone group (P<0.05). And the total abortion rates of 3/7 in higher progesterone group were significantly higher than 11.0% (34/301) in lower progesterone group when the thresholds of serum progesterone were 9.0 nmol/L (P<0.05). Conclusions This study did not prove the correlationship between progesterone level at the clay with hCG administration and the probability of clinical pregnancy or live birth. However, early abortion rates or the total abortion rates were associated with higher progesterone level when the thresholds of serum progesterone were at 8.5 nmol/L or 9.0 nmoL/L.

OBJECTIVETo separate high-quality sperm by PureSperm centrifugation applied to intrauterine insemination (IUI) cycles.

METHODSWe compared the separate results after washing the semen with one-layer and two-layer PureSperm gradient centrifugation methods and two-layer Percoll gradient centrifugation method, and used the recovered high-quality sperm for IUI.

RESULTSThe density of the sperm washed with one-layer PureSperm centrifugation method was significantly higher than that washed with two-layer Percoll and two-layer PureSperm centrifugation methods(P < 0.01), but there were no differences in all the results between the use of two-layer Percoll and two-layer PureSperm(P > 0.05). No significant differences in the motility, teratozoospermia and IUI results were found when the three methods were used for sperm preparation(P > 0.05). The percentage of morphologically normal sperm was markedly increased, and the non-sperm components such as leucocytes, epithelial cells and cellular fragments were significantly reduced after washed by the two methods.

CONCLUSIONPureSperm centrifugation is a safe, efficient and easy method for separating high-quality sperm on intrauterine insemination cycles.

Cell Separation ; methods ; Centrifugation, Density Gradient ; Female ; Humans ; Insemination, Artificial ; Male ; Spermatozoa ; cytology

Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of continuous erythropoietin receptor activator (C.E.R.A.) once every 4 weeks by subcutaneous administration on hemoglobin (Hb)maintenance in dialytic patients with chronic renal anemia who had been treated with stable dose of erythropoietin (EPO).Methods This was an open,randomized,controlled,multi-center trial.All the hemodialysis or peritoneal dialytic patients in EPO maintenance treatment received subcutaneous EPO-β during the 6-week pre-treatment period to maintain Hb level between 100 g/L and 120 g/L.Eligible patients were randomized (2∶1 ) to accept either C.E.R.A.once every 4 weeks by subcutaneous administration ( C.E.R.A.group,n =187 ) or subcutaneous EPO-β 1-3 times weekly ( EPO group,n =94) for 28 weeks (including 20-week dose titration period and 8-week efficacy evaluation period ). The starting dose of C.E.R.A.was converted according to the dose of EPO-β administered in the week preceding the first study drug administration.The primary outcome was the change of Hb level between the baseline and that in the efficacy evaluation period.Results Totally 253 patients completed the whole 28-week treatment.The change of baseline-adjusted mean Hb was +2.57 g/L for C.E.R.A.group and + 1.23 g/L for EPO group,resulting in a treatment difference of 1.34 g/L (95％ CI - 1.11-3.78 g/L).Since the lower limit of 95％ CI was greater than the pre-defined non-inferiority margin -7.5 g/L( P ＜ 0.0001 ),C.E.R.A.once every 4 weeks by subcutaneous administration was clinically non-inferior to EPO regarding the maintenance of stable Hb level.The proportion of patients maintaining Hb level within the range of 100-120 g/L through efficacy evaluation period was similar between the two groups ( 69.0％ for C.E.R.A.group vs 68.9％ for EPO group,P ＞0.05 ).The overall incidence of adverse events was similar between the C.E.R.A.(41.7％)and EPO (46.2％ ) groups ( P ＞ 0.05 ).The safety findings were in accordance with the patients' primary diseases rather than the administration.Conclusions Conversion from EPO to C.E.R.A.once every 4 weeks by subcutaneous injection could maintain the Hb in target level in dialytic patients with renal anemia,and it was non-inferior to EPO.In general,subcutaneous administration of C.E.R.A.is well tolerated in dialytic patients with chronic renal anemia.