The hormone leptin, which is thought to be primarily produced by adipose tissue, is a polypeptide that was initially characterized by its ability to regulate food intake and energy metabolism. Leptin appears to signal the status of body energy stores to the brain, resulting in the regulation of food intake and whole-body energy expenditure. Subsequently, it was recognized as a cytokine with a wide range of peripheral actions and is involved in the regulation of a number of physiological systems including reproduction. In the fed state, leptin circulates in the plasma in proportion to body adiposity in all species studied to date. However other factors such as sex, age, body mass index (BMI), sex steroids and pregnancy may also affect leptin levels in plasma. In pregnant mice and humans, the placenta is also a major site of leptin expression. Leptin circulates in biological fluids both as free protein and in a form that is bound to the soluble isoform of its receptor or other binding proteins such as one of the immunoglobulin superfamily members Siglec-6 (OBBP1). Although the actions of leptin in the control of reproductive function are thought to be exerted mainly via the hypothalamicpituitary-gonadal axis, there have also been reports of local direct effects of leptin at the peripheral level, however, these data appear contradictory. Therefore, there is a need to summarize the current status of research outcomes and analyze the possible reasons for differing results and thus provide researchers with new insight in designing experiments to investigate leptin effect on reproduction. Most importantly, our recent experimental data suggesting that reproductive performance is improved by decreasing concentrations of peripheral leptin was unexpected and cannot be explained by hypotheses drawn from the experiments of excessive exogenous leptin administration to normal animals or ob/ob mice., M. Herrid, S. K. A. Palanisamy, U. A. Ciller, R. Fan, P. Moens, N. A. Smart, J. R. McFarlane., and Obsahuje bibliografii
We measured plasma concentrations, adipose tissue and placental mRNA expression of hepatokines fetuin A, fetuin B and fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) in 12 healthy pregnant women (P group), 12 pregnant women with gestational diabetes (GDM) and 10 healthy non-pregnant women (N group) to explore their potential role in the etiopathogenesis of GDM. GDM and P group had comparable BMI, C-reactive protein (CRP) and glycated hemoglobin levels while IL-10 and TNF-α levels were higher in GDM group. Fetuin A and fetuin B levels were higher in pregnancy as compared to N group and decreased after delivery with no apparent influence of GDM. In contrast, the pattern of changes of circulating FGF21 levels differed between GDM and P group. Fetuin A concentrations positively correlated with CRP, TNF-α mRNA expression in adipose tissue and IL-6 mRNA expression in placenta. Fetuin B positively correlated with CRP. FGF21 levels correlated positively with IFN-γ mRNA in adipose tissue and inversely with IL-8 mRNA in the placenta. Taken together, fetuin A and fetuin B levels were increased during pregnancy regardless of the presence of GDM. In contrast, FGF21 patterns differed between healthy pregnant women and GDM patients suggesting a possible role of this hepatokine in the etiopathogenesis of GDM., P. Šimják, A. Cinkajzlová, K. Anderlová, J. Kloučková, H. Kratochvílová, Z. Lacinová, P. Kaválková, H. Krejčí, M. Mráz, A. Pařízek, M. Kršek, M. Haluzík., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Smoking during pregnancy presents health risks for both the mother and her child. In this study we followed changes in the production of steroid hormones in pregnant smokers. We focused on changes in steroidogenesis in the blood of mothers in their 37th week of pregnancy and in mixed cord blood from their newborns. The study included 88 healthy women with physiological pregnancies (17 active smokers and 71 nonsmokers). We separately analyzed hormonal changes associated with smoking according to the sex of newborns. In women with male fetuses, we found higher levels of serum cortisone, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), 7α-OH-DHEA, 17-OH pregnenolone, testosterone, and androstenedione in smokers at the 37th week compared to non-smokers. In women with female fetuses, we found lower serum levels of 7β-OH-DHEA and higher androstenedione in smokers at the 37th week. We found significantly higher levels of testosterone in newborn males of smokers and higher levels of 7α-OH-DHEA in female newborns of smokers. Smoking during pregnancy induces changes in the production of steroids in both the mother and her child. These changes are different for different fetal sexes, with more pronounced changes in mothers carrying male newborns as well as in the newborn males themselves., K. Adamcová, L. Kolátorová, T. Chlupáčová, M. Šimková, H. Jandíková, A. Pařízek, L. Stárka, M. Dušková., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Heterozygous inactivating mutations of the glucokinase (GCK) gene are causing GCK-MODY, one of the most common forms of the Maturity Onset Diabetes of the Young (MODY). GCK-MODY is characterized by fasting hyperglycemia without apparent worsening with aging and low risk for chronic vascular complications. Despite the mild clinical course, GCK-MODY could be misdiagnosed as type 1 or type 2 diabetes. In the diagnostic process, the clinical suspicion is often based on the clinical diagnostic criteria for GCK-MODY and should be confirmed by DNA analysis. However, there are several issues in the clinical and also in genetic part that could complicate the diagnostic process. Most of the people with GCK-MODY do not require any pharmacotherapy. The exception are pregnant women with a fetus which did not inherit GCK mutation from the mother. Such a child has accelerated growth, and has increased risk for diabetic foetopathy. In this situation the mother should be treated with substitutional doses of insulin. Therefore, distinguishing GCK-MODY from gestational diabetes in pregnancy is very important. For this purpose, special clinical diagnostic criteria for clinical identification of GCK-MODY in pregnancy are used. This review updates information on GCK-MODY and discusses several currently not solved problems in the clinical diagnostic process, genetics, and treatment of this type of monogenic diabetes.
The hematological and biochemical parameters were determined in blood of chemically immobilized pregnant and non-pregnant free ranging red, Cervus elaphus, and fallow, Dama dama, deer. In both species a marked reduction of red blood cell count, hemoglobin concentration and hematocrit, as well as higher concentration of triacylgliceride, cholesterol, creatinine and alanine aminotransferase activity were detected in pregnant animals. Significant differences in blood parameters were determined between the two cervid species. The red deer hinds had higher hemoglobin, hematocrit, mean cell volume, mean cell hemoglobin value, higher count of neutrophils and lymphocytes and a total white blood cells count, glucose, albumin, triacylgliceride and urea concentration, whereas fallow deer does had higher alanine aminotransferase activity and cholesterol concentration. The marked differences in blood glucose values were noted between pregnant animals regarding the species. Pregnant hinds had lower lymphocyte count than non-pregnant ones, while pregnant does had more than twice lymphocyte count in their blood than non-pregnant animals. Moreover, pregnant fallow deer does had rather high eosinophile count in the blood. The results provided by this research may facilitate better assessment of health status in free ranging red and fallow deer.
The aim of present studies was to examine the interrelationships between reproductive events, age, body mass and steroid hormones in roe deer females (Capreolus capreolus). For this purpose we compared seasonal changes in body mass, blood levels of progesterone and estradiol (1) in young (1 year) and adult (2-4 years old) does and (2) in pregnant and non-pregnant animals. Monthly during 12 months all animals were weighed, blood plasma was collected, and concentration of progesterone and estradiol was analysed by RIA. Pregnant animals had significantly higher body weight, than non-pregnant ones, in November (before foetus implantation), and lower body weight in comparison with non-pregnant females in August (after parturition). In non-pregnant females high level of progesterone was observed from August (mating) up to December. Thereafter progesterone level declined up to minimum in summer months (April-July). Pregnant animals had increased progesterone level from February (foetus implantation) up to June (time after labour). In non-pregnant females, three peaks of estradiol concentration were observed in October, December and May. Pregnant animals, in contrast to non-pregnant females, had spring (January-March) gravidity-associated peak of estradiol level, but absence of summer (May) peak before parturition. Comparison of annual changes in body weight and plasma steroid hormone level in pregnant yearlings and old animals, as well as the number of offspring in these animals did not show principal age-dependent differences in these indexes, although yearlings had higher absolute progesterone (in December) and estradiol (in October and November) level than old animals. Our observations suggest significant seasonal changes in plasma progesterone and estradiol level and body weight in this species. Substantial differences in these changes in pregnant and non-pregnant animals demonstrate the involvement of steroid hormones in control of pregnancy in roe deer does. The absence of age-dependent differences in body weight and fecundity rate do not confirm previous hypothesis that age-dependent differences in metabolism and body mass can reduce fertility rate in yearlings. Moreover, our observations are the first demonstration of higher rate of steroidogenesis in young animals, than in adult females during early stages of gravidity and before embryo implantation. It is not to be excluded, that age-dependent reduction in ovarian steroid hormones level could be a cause of future infertility in old animals.
The experience of pregnancy during which one human body lives inside another human body can provide an unconventional way of making some aspects of human subjectivity and embodiment stand out. This article arises from a phenomenological analysis of the living body and through a comparative analysis of two philosophical descriptions of pregnancy (N. Depraz a I. Young) it arrives at an alternative understanding of the duality which characterises this experience. Instead of the duality of self and the other in myself – of identity and inner alterity – it offers a topological duality of excessive closeness and distance from one’s own interpretation of reality. The article draws, in this, on the account of friendship in G. Agamben, well-being in G. Bachelard and the world outside the world of J. Derrida. In this way there is not constituted some kind of more powerful female subjectivity, but conduct on the basis of tact with respect to the hiddenness of reality. With reference to a question of J. Butler, the final part of the article deals with the possibilities of ethics in a subject that is not transparent to itself, something which flows from the experience just analysed.
There is growing evidence that methamphetamine use during pregnancy may produce detrimental cardiovascular effects in the adult offspring. Prior work demonstrated that chronic methamphetamine exposure throughout the gestational period causes adult female offspring to become hypersensitive to myocardial ischemic injury. The goal of the present study was to determine whether this methamphetamine-induced effect occurs early or late in the gestational period. Pregnant female rats were divided into 4 experimental groups. Groups 1 and 2 received subcutaneous injections of saline (group 1) or methamphetamine (5 mg/kg) (group 2) throughout the gestational period. Group 3 received methamphetamine injections on days 1-11 and saline on days 12-22, and group 4 received saline on days 1-11 and methamphetamine on days 12-22. Hearts were isolated from adult (8 weeks) female offspring and subjected to 30 min ischemia and 2 hours reperfusion on a Langendorff isolated heart apparatus. Contractile function was measured via an intraventricular balloon, and infarct size was measured by triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining. Infarcts were significantly larger in methamphetamine exposed offspring regardless of whether they had been exposed to methamphetamine during the first half or the second half of the gestational period. Prenatal exposure to methamphetamine had no effect on preischemic contractile function or postischemic recovery of contractile function. These data indicate that methamphetamine use during either the first half or second half of pregnancy increases susceptibility to myocardial infarction in adult female offspring. These data provide further evidence that prenatal exposure to methamphetamine may increase the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases during adulthood.
The microcirculation, like all physiological systems undergoes modifications during the course of pregnancy. These changes aid the adaption to the new anatomical and physiological environment of pregnancy and ensure adequate oxygen supply to the fetus. Even though the microcirculation is believed to be involved in major pregnancy related pathologies, it remains poorly understood. The availability of safe and non-interventional technologies enabling scientists to study the intact microcirculation of the pregnant patient will hopefully expand our understanding. In this article we review the physiological changes occurring in the microcirculation during pregnancy and the role of the microcirculation in gestational related pathologies. We will also describe the available techniques for the measurement and evaluation of the microcirculation. Lastly we will highlight the possible fields in which these techniques could be utilized to help provide a clearer view of the microcirculation in the pregnant woman., I. Abdo, R. B. George, M. Farrag, V. Cerny, C. Lehmann., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Endocrine disruptors (EDs) are known to have harmful effects on the human endocrine system; special effort is actually given to the exposure during pregnancy. Humans are usually exposed to a mixture of EDs, which may potentiate or antagonize each other, and the combined effect may be difficult to estimate. The main phthalate monoesters monoethyl-, mono-n -butyl-, monoisobutyl-, monobenzyl-, mono-(2-ethylhexyl)-, mono-(2- ethyl-5-hydroxyhexyl)- and mono-(2-ethyl-5-oxohexyl) phthalate were determined in 18 maternal (37th week of pregnancy) and cord plasma samples using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Previously determined levels of selected bisphenols, parabens and steroids were also considered in this study. In cord blood, there were significantly higher mono-n-butyl phthalate levels than in maternal blood (p=0.043). The results of multiple regression models showed that maternal plasma phthalates were negatively associated with cord plasma androstenedione, testosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone and positively associated with estradiol and estriol. For estriol, a cumulative association was also observed for Σbisphenols. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first pilot study evaluating the effect of prenatal exposure by multiple EDs on newborn steroidogenesis. Our results confirmed phthalate accumulation in the fetal area and disruption of fetal steroidogenesis. This preliminary study highlights the negative impacts of in utero EDs exposure on fetal steroidogenesis., L. Kolatorova, J. Vitku, A. Vavrous, R. Hampl, K. Adamcova, M. Simkova, A. Parizek, L. Starka, M. Duskova., and Obsahuje bibliografii