scholarly journals Innate Immunity in the Human Female Reproductive Tract: Antiviral Response of Uterine Epithelial Cells to the TLR3 Agonist Poly(I:C)

2005 ◽  
Vol 174 (2) ◽  
pp. 992-1002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Todd M. Schaefer ◽  
John V. Fahey ◽  
Jacqueline A. Wright ◽  
Charles R. Wira
Keyword(s):  
Innate Immunity ◽  
Epithelial Cells ◽  
Reproductive Tract ◽  
Antiviral Response ◽  
Female Reproductive Tract ◽  
Poly I:C ◽  
Human Female ◽  
Uterine Epithelial Cells

149 DEVELOPMENT OF AN IN VITRO BIOLUMINESCENT SPERM BINDING ASSAY: PRELIMINARY DATA

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 188
Author(s):  
R. C. Youngblood ◽  
S. T. Willard ◽  
P. L. Ryan ◽  
J. M. Feugang
Keyword(s):  
Epithelial Cells ◽  
Quantum Dot ◽  
Reproductive Tract ◽  
Binding Assay ◽  
Agricultural Research ◽  
Detection System ◽  
Female Reproductive Tract ◽  
Uterine Epithelial Cells ◽  
Sperm Binding

Quantum dot technology has enabled researchers to incorporate the intrinsic properties of such nanoparticles into physiological exploration. Previous work from our laboratory has demonstrated that quantum dots can be incorporated into spermatozoa without deleterious effects to physiological parameters such as motility, viability, and fertilizing potential (Feugang et al. 2012). However, the journey of spermatozoa within the female reproductive tract is met with many physicochemical obstacles and checkpoints that include the binding of spermatozoa to utero-oviducal epithelial cells. Moreover, the binding ability/affinity of quantum dot-labelled spermatozoa has not been tested and therefore, the objective of this study is to test the binding semblance of quantum dot-labelled spermatozoa to uterine epithelial cells compared to normal sperm, and the subsequent use of the technology to develop a bioluminescent sperm binding assay. Porcine uterine epithelial (PUE) cells were seeded into 96-well clear-bottomed plates (20 000 cells/well) and allowed to grow to 95% confluency. Motile spermatozoa were selected from fresh pooled semen of fertile boars and labelled with quantum dot nanoparticles to form quantum sperm, as previously described (Feugang et al. 2012). Final concentrations of 107 labelled (QD+) and non-labelled (QD–) spermatozoa were added to monolayers of PUE cells and co-incubated in PBS/polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) at 37°C, 5% CO2. The control consisted of PUE cells alone in the PBS/PVP medium. Each treatment was performed in triplicate and experiments were repeated 3 times. After 1 h of co-incubation, the supernatant from each well was transferred to the adjacent three wells. The co-incubated wells containing expected PUE-sperm binding were then washed 3 times with PBS/PVP to eliminate any unbound sperm. PUE-quantum sperm (QD+) and PUE-non-labelled sperm (QD–) complexes were verified using bright field microscopy, followed by measurement of photonic emission from each well (GloMax Multi Detection System, Promega, Madison, WI, USA). Data was analysed by ANOVA with the threshold of significance fixed at P < 0.05. There were no visual differences in binding patterns between QD+ and QD–, which appeared similar under the microscope. However, the photonic signals (relative luminescent units; RLU) from QD+ wells were significantly higher than both the control and QD– wells (2534.84 ± 639.91 v. 542.46 ± 639.91 and 806.48 ± 639.91 RLU; P < 0.05). Supernatants collected from the QD+ wells, representing unbound quantum sperm, had the highest photonic emissions when compared to all other wells, with or without spermatozoa (19 948.23 ± 639.91 RLU; P < 0.05). Results demonstrate that quantum dot nanoparticles can be incorporated into boar spermatozoa without affecting their binding affinity to uterine epithelial cells, and their subsequent use in a biophotonic sperm binding assay. Further optimization and experimentations are ongoing to establish whether bioluminescent quantum sperm could serve to develop sensitive in vitro binding assays to better characterise sperm viability. Support was provided by U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) grant number 58-6402-3-0120

scholarly journals Tenofovir Inhibits Wound Healing of Epithelial Cells and Fibroblasts from the Upper and Lower Human Female Reproductive Tract

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Rodriguez-Garcia ◽  
Mickey V. Patel ◽  
Zheng Shen ◽  
Jack Bodwell ◽  
Richard M. Rossoll ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wound Healing ◽  
Epithelial Cells ◽  
Reproductive Tract ◽  
Female Reproductive Tract ◽  
Human Female

scholarly journals Human Cervical Epithelial Cells Release Antiviral Factors and Inhibit HIV Replication in Macrophages

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xi-Qiu Xu ◽  
Le Guo ◽  
Xu Wang ◽  
Yu Liu ◽  
Hang Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Epithelial Cells ◽  
Cell Cultures ◽  
Reproductive Tract ◽  
Sexual Transmission ◽  
Female Reproductive Tract ◽  
Poly I:C ◽  
Human Macrophage ◽  
Oligoadenylate Synthetase ◽  
Hiv Inhibition ◽  
Cervical Epithelial Cells

The female reproductive tract is a major site of HIV sexual transmission. We here examined whether human cervical epithelial cells (HCEs) can be immunologically activated and produce antiviral factors against HIV. We demonstrated that HCEs (End1/E6E7 cells) possess the functional toll-like receptor (TLR)3 signaling system, which could be activated by Poly I:C and induce multiple cellular HIV restriction factors. The treatment of primary human macrophages with supernatant (SN) from TLR3-activated End1/E6E7 cell cultures resulted in HIV inhibition. This SN-mediated HIV inhibition was mainly through the induction of interferons (IFN)-β and IFN-λs, as the antibodies to IFN-β or IFN-λs receptor could effectively block the SN-mediated anti-HIV effect. Further studies showed that the incubation of macrophages with SN from the activated cervical epithelial cell cultures induced the expression of a number of IFN-stimulated genes (ISGs), including IFN-stimulated gene (ISG15), ISG56, 2′, 5′-oligoadenylate synthetase 1 (OAS 1), OAS 2, Myxovirus Resistance A (MxA), MxB, and Guanylate-binding protein 5 (GBP5). In addition, TLR3-activated cells produced the CC chemokines [regulated on activation, normal T cell expressed and secreted (RANTES), Human macrophage inflammatory protein 1 alpha (MIP-1α), MIP-1β] the ligands of HIV entry co-receptor CCR5. These observations support further studies on HCEs as potentially crucial and alternative targets for immunological intervention to control and prevent HIV sexual transmission.

Effect of Contraceptive Steroids on the Endometrium of Guinea Pig: SEM study

1977 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 668-669
Author(s):  
Mai M. Said ◽  
Ramesh K. Nayak ◽  
Randall E. McCoy
Keyword(s):  
Guinea Pig ◽  
Reproductive Tract ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Female Reproductive Tract ◽  
Human Female ◽  
Surface Ultrastructure ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Sem Study ◽  
Uterine Mucosa ◽  
Group 1

Burgos and Wislocki described changes in the mucosa of the guinea pig uterus, cervix and vagina during the estrous cycle investigated by transmission electron microscopy. More recently, Moghissi and Reame reported the effects of progestational agents on the human female reproductive tract. They found drooping and shortening of cilia in norgestrel and norethindrone- treated endometria. To the best of our knowledge, no studies concerning the effects of mestranol and norethindrone given concurrently on the three-dimensional surface features on the uterine mucosa of the guinea pig have been reported. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of mestranol and norethindrone on surface ultrastructure of guinea pig uterus by SEM.Seventy eight animals were used in this study. They were allocated into two groups. Group 1 (20 animals) was injected intramuscularly 0.1 ml vegetable oil and served as controls.

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