OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of vascular bundle implantation in autogenous bone graft on angiogenesis.

METHODSThirty-six New Zealand white rabbits were evaluated in this study. A portion of bilateral radial bones of a rabbit were removed as free bone grafts, whose periostea were peeled off. In test group, the external maxillary artery bundle was passed through the marrow cavity of the bone. In control group, there was no vascular bundle implantation. Each bone was placed in masseter muscle separately. The rabbits were sacrificed and the specimens were procured at 3 days, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 weeks after surgery for histological observation, Chinese ink perfusion and CD34 immunohistochemistry. Microvessel density (MVD) was assessed in order to evaluate angiogenesis of autogenous bone grafts.

RESULTSThe bone grafts were found revascularization in 3 days after surgery in the test group, whereas at 2 weeks in the control group. In 3 days, 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks and 4 weeks after surgery, the MVD of test group was significantly higher than that of control group. In 4 weeks after surgery, angiogenesis of test group reached to peak.

CONCLUSIONVascular bundle implantation improved angiogenesis in non-vascularized autogenous bone graft in this study.

Animals ; Bone Transplantation ; Bone and Bones ; Prostheses and Implants ; Rabbits

AIMTo detect the expression of VASA in human ejaculated spermatozoa, and to compare the expression of VASA between normozoospermic men and patients with oligozoospermia.

METHODSEjaculated spermatozoa were collected from normozoospermic men and patients with oligozoospermia by masturbation, and subsequently segregated through a discontinuous gradient of Percoll to obtain the spermatozoa. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), quantitative RT-PCR (QRT-PCR), immunoflurescence and Western blotting were used to detect the expression of VASA in mRNA and protein levels.

RESULTSVASA mRNA was expressed in the ejaculated spermatozoa. QRT-PCR analysis showed that VASA mRNA level was approximately 5-fold higher in normozoospermic men than that in oligozoospermic men. Immunofluorescence and Western blotting analysis showed that VASA protein was located on the cytoplasmic membrane of heads and tails of spermatozoa, and its expression was significantly decreased in oligozoospermic men, which is similar to the result of QRT-PCR.

CONCLUSIONThe expression of VASA mRNA and protein was significantly decreased in the sperm of oligozoospermic men, which suggested the lower expression of the VASA gene might be associated with pathogenesis in some subtypes of male infertility and VASA could be used as a molecular marker for the diagnosis of male infertility.

Biomarkers ; metabolism ; Blotting, Western ; DEAD-box RNA Helicases ; genetics ; metabolism ; Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect ; Gene Expression ; Humans ; Male ; Oligospermia ; genetics ; metabolism ; pathology ; RNA, Messenger ; metabolism ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Spermatozoa ; cytology ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo study genetic polymorphism of 9 STR loci in Han nation population in Shangdong Province.

METHODSWe investigated 100 unrelated individuals of Han nation population in Shandong Province and studied their genetic distribution of 9 STR loci and Amelogenin locus. Primers of 10 loci were labeled with the NHS-ester fluorescent dye 5-FAM (blue), Joe (green) or NED (yellow). The data of Han nation population were generated by multiple amplification and subjected to GeneScan, genotype and genetic distribution analysis.

RESULTS83 alleles and 220 genotypes were observed, with the corresponding frequency of 0.0050-0.4050 and 0.0100-0.2100. The average of heterozygosity was 0.7778, the accumulated discrimination power was 0.9999. The accumulated probability of exclusion paternity was 0.9999. The polymorphism information content was 0.5823-0.8396.

CONCLUSIONSChi-Square test indicated that the distribution of genotypes agreed with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium.

Alleles ; China ; ethnology ; Gene Frequency ; Genetic Markers ; genetics ; Genotype ; Humans ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid ; Tandem Repeat Sequences