IFN-is a secretory product of trophectoderm of cattle, sheep, and their relatives and is expressed for a few days in early pregnancy after the blastocyst first forms. It serves to alert the mother that she is pregnant. A delayed or less than robust IFN-signal is a likely cause of embryonic loss. Here we have determined whether blastocyst production of IFN-, which is encoded by a cluster of genes on chromosome 9, differs between the sexes in cattle, as assessed by culture of in vitro-derived embryos on two different media, one complex (tissue culture medium 199 supplemented with serum) with coculture support, the other relatively simple (synthetic oviductal fluid plus albumin). With both media, female blastocysts produced approximately double the amount of IFN-as males, regardless of such variables as oocyte batch, blastocyst quality, hatching, and length of time in culture. However, in either tissue culture medium 199, which contains 5.5 mM D-glucose, or in synthetic oviductal fluid, in the presence but not in the absence of added glucose, significantly fewer female than male embryos were able to progress from the morula͞early blastocyst stage to more advanced stages of development. It is possible that the differences between male and female embryos both in their production of IFN-and in their ability to progress in development in glucose-rich media are manifestations of phenomena that occur in vivo and provide plasticity in embryo selection during early pregnancy.embryo culture ͉ in vitro maturation-in vitro fertilization ͉ sexual dimorphism

The primary aim of the present study was to examine the effect of maternal age (in months) on mitochondrial DNA copy number (Mt number), ATP content and IVF outcome of bovine oocytes. We also compared the Mt number of oocytes with fertilisation outcome and ATP content. Oocytes were collected from cows aged 20-204 months and the Mt number was determined by real-time polymerase chain reaction. The Mt number in immature and mature oocytes was determined to be 368,118 and 807,794, respectively; the ATP content in these oocytes was 1.2 and 2.0 pM, respectively. Both Mt number and ATP content increased during oocyte maturation. However, after 90 months of age, the Mt number of mature oocytes decreased with increasing maternal age, whereas the ATP content of mature oocytes was positively correlated with maternal age (P<0.01); there was no obvious relationship observed between Mt number and ATP content. Furthermore, maternal age was positively correlated with the abnormal fertilisation rate (P<0.01). Mt number and fertilisation outcome were unrelated, but the nature of this relationship differed between young (21-89 months) and old (>89 months) cows. Thus, we conclude that Mt number, the ATP content and fertilisation outcome of bovine oocytes are affected by maternal age.

In our institute, 1100 patients with a history of Kawasaki disease have been catheterized for selective coronary arteriography. Their age at examination ranged from four months to 13 years. Coronary artery lesions (CAL) were found in 262 patients. As far as the type of the CAL was concerned, occlusion was noted in 20 (7.6%), segmental stenosis in 15 (5.7%), localized stenosis in 62 (23.7%), aneurysm in 93 (35.5%), and dilatation in 72 patients (27.5%). In terms of the total number of lesions, there were 23 occlusions, 19 segmental stenoses, 109 localized stenoses, 449 aneurysms and 307 dilatations. The 262 patients with CAL were analyzed according to the interval from the onset to the time of selective coronary arteriography. The incidence of both occlusion and segmental stenosis was lowest in the group who were catheterized shortly after the onset of disease, whereas the prevalence of aneurysm was highest in this group. But the prevalence of dilatation was highest in the group of patients who were catheterized late. A total of 12 patients had to undergo femoral arterial thrombectomy for arterial thrombosis following the catheterization, but no other major complication was experienced.

D-glucose at 5.6 mM reduces the progression of in vitro-produced (IVP) bovine embryos from the morula to the blastocyst stage and skews sex ratio towards males. Possibly, the presence of two transcriptionally active X-chromosomes compromises female embryo development through imbalance in glucose metabolism. Here, we have determined the threshold of embryo sensitivity to glucose, whether substitution of D-fructose for glucose reduces the selective loss of female embryos, and whether inhibition of an X-linked gene product, glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), normalizes sex ratio among bovine blastocysts. IVP zygotes were cultured in glucose-free medium to 72 hr post-insemination, at which time 8-cell embryos were selected for treatment and cultured until 144 hr post-insemination. Addition of 4 mM glucose at the 8-cell stage reduced (P < 0.05) the number of blastocyst that formed, whereas 2.5 and 1 mM glucose had no effect. Sex ratio in the presence of 4 and 2.5 mM glucose differed significantly from 0.5, while 1 mM glucose had no effect. D-fructose (5.6 mM) did not compromise development to blastocyst and did not alter the sex ratio of blastocysts that formed. When G6PD inhibitors (dehydroepiandrosterone: DHEA and 6-aminonicotinamide: 6-AN), which effectively inhibit the reduction of the NADPH-sensitive dye, brilliant cresyl blue (BCB) in bovine morulae, were added to the culture medium containing 4 mM glucose, embryo development was moderately reduced, but sex ratio skewing was corrected (with 6-AN) or lowered (with DHEA). In conclusion, glucose above 2.5 mM impairs bovine embryo development and increases sex ratio, most likely as a result of increased pentose-phosphate (PP) pathway activity in female embryos.

Abstract. The protective effects of hesperidin against hypercholesterolemia and fatty liver were examined in male Wistar rats fed a high-cholesterol diet for 12 weeks. Compared with a standard diet, a high-cholesterol diet not only increased body weights, liver weights, and serum concentration of cholesterol, but also induced the fatty degeneration (steatosis) of liver. Hesperidin (0.08%) reduced levels of hepatic steatosis, adipose tissue and liver weights (P < 0.05), serum total cholesterol and retinol binding protein (RBP) 4 concentrations (P < 0.05) in rats fed with high-cholesterol diet, while reduction in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels and triglyceride concentrations was not significant. It also attenuated the marked changes in mRNA expression of lipid metabolism-related proteins: RBP, heart fatty acid-binding protein (H-FABP), and cutaneous fatty acidbinding protein (C-FABP), in liver and adipose tissue. According to the results of gas chromatography, serum concentrations of total cholesterol and biomarkers of cholesterol synthesis (lathosterol) and absorption (campesterol, β-sitosterol) were lower, and concentrations of cholesterol in feces were higher in the rats given hesperidin (P < 0.05). Hesperidin may improve hypercholesterolemia and fatty liver by inhibiting both the synthesis and absorption of cholesterol and regulating the expression of mRNA for RBP, C-FABP, and H-FABP.