The fetus is an unstable subject for an isolated physiological and biochemical study. To study the fetus in a controlled and stable environment, a trial was done using 12 goat fetuses. Extrauterine incubation system was devised using an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation system. The system consisted of a venous reservoir with a servo-controlled roller pump and a membrane oxygenator. The extra-corporeal circuit and membrane oxygenator were primed with the maternal whole blood of 200 mL. Fetal umbilical cords was exposed by Cesarean section. Fetal umbilical arterial blood was drained via the drainage cannula. The drained blood was perfused to the oxygenator by the roller pump. The highly oxygenated and decarboxylated blood was returned to an umbilical vein via the perfusion catheter. The blood flow rate was controlled manually using a roller pump. Fetal heart rate, blood pressure, and electrocardiogram were continuously recorded. Gas analysis of drained and perfused bood was performed hourly. With this system, the fetuses were able to survive under fairly stable physiological condition for periods of up to 34 hr. The extrauterine incubation system used in this study could therefore be a encouraging future experimental model in researching the artificial placenta for premature fetuses.
Animals ; Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation/adverse effects/*methods ; Female ; Fetal Blood/metabolism ; Fetus/*blood supply/*physiology ; Goats ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature ; Models, Animal ; Pregnancy ; Time Factors ; Umbilical Arteries ; Umbilical Veins

Congenital anomalies of the female reproductive tract may involve the uterus, cervix, fallopian tubes, or vagian. Depending on the specific defect, a women's obstetric and gynecologic health may be adversely affected. We have experienced a case of rudimentary uterine horn with noncommunicated uterus complicated by pelvic endometriosis in a 25 years old woman with primary amenorrhea and monthly periodic pelvic pain. We observed noncommunicating uterus with blind pouch, cervix disconnected to uterus with normal appearance, and left ovarian endometrial cyst. For treatment, the metroplastic surgery with end-to end anastomosis connecting cervix and noncommunicated uterus and removal of endometrial cyst were done. Many cases of uterine anomalies have been documented but, there have been few reported cases of noncommunicated uterus with disconnected cervix and successful performance of the metroplasty. Thus hereby we report this case with a review of literatures.
Amenorrhea ; Animals ; Cervix Uteri ; Endometriosis ; Fallopian Tubes ; Female ; Horns ; Humans ; Pelvic Pain ; Urogenital Abnormalities ; Uterus

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between expression of 1-Cys peroxiredoxin (Prx) and resistance to cisplatin in epithelial ovarian cancer cell lines. METHODS: Immunohistochemistry of 1-Cys Prx was performed on both normal ovarian tissues and the tissues of epithelial ovarian cancer. Western blot was performed to measure the expression of 1-Cys Prx in SKOV-3, OVCAR-3 and SNU-8 after treatment with cisplatin. Expression of 1-Cys Prx in SKOV-3 was also measured according to both time after treatment with cisplatin and concentration of cisplatin. The generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was measured with and without antioxidants in SKOV-3. SKOV-3 was transfected with 1-Cys Prx green fluorescent protein plasmid to overexpress 1-Cys Prx and TUNEL assay was performed after treatment with cisplatin to examine apoptosis. RESULTS: 1-Cys Prx was strongly expressed in both stroma and epithelium of both normal ovary and epithelial ovarian cancer, especially in the cytoplasm of epithelial cells. SNU-8 and OVCAR-3 exhibited about 1.5 fold higher expression than SKOV-3. SKOV-3 showed the peak expression at 48 hours after treatment with cisplatin and in 3 microgram/mL concentration of cisplatin. The generation of ROS was increased after treatment with cisplatin to SKOV-3 and the survival of SKOV-3 against cisplatin was correlated with the concentration of antioxidants (p<0.001). No apoptosis occurred in 1-Cys Prx overexpressed SKOV-3 cells. CONCLUSION: 1-Cys Prx was shown to increase the resistance to cisplatin in epithelial ovarian cancer cell line. The result suggests that the resistance may be due to overexpression of 1-Cys Prx, which is responsible for removal of ROS generated by cisplatin.
Antioxidants ; Apoptosis ; Blotting, Western ; Cell Line* ; Cisplatin* ; Cytoplasm ; Epithelial Cells ; Epithelium ; Female ; Immunohistochemistry ; In Situ Nick-End Labeling ; Ovarian Neoplasms* ; Ovary ; Peroxiredoxins* ; Plasmids ; Reactive Oxygen Species

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Identifying the critical isthmus of slow conduction is crucial for successful treatment of scar-related ventricular tachycardia. Current 3D mapping is not designed for tracking the critical isthmus and may lead to a risk of extensive ablation. We edited the algorithm to track the delayed potential in order to visualize the isthmus and compared the edited map with a conventional map. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: We marked every point that showed delayed potential with blue color. After substrate mapping, we edited to reset the annotation from true ventricular potential to delayed potential and then changed the window of interest from the conventional zone (early, 50-60%; late, 40-50% from peak of QRS) to the edited zone (early, 80-90%; late, 10-20%) for every blue point. Finally, we compared the propagation maps before and after editing. RESULTS: We analyzed five scar-related ventricular tachycardia cases. In the propagation maps, the resetting map showed the critical isthmus and entrance and exit sites of tachycardia that showed figure 8 reentry. However, conventional maps only showed the earliest ventricular activation sites and searched for focal tachycardia. All of the tachycardia cases were terminated by ablating the area around the isthmus. CONCLUSION: Identifying the channel and direction of the critical isthmus by a new editing method to track delayed potential is essential in scar-related tachycardia.
Tachycardia ; Tachycardia, Ventricular*