Behavioral assessment of the ability of intracerebral embryonic neural tissue grafts to ameliorate the effects of brain damage in marmosets

The transplantation of neuronal tissue into the brains of patients with Parkinson's disease is already being assessed as an experimental treatment for the symptoms of this disease, and the possibility of using similar graft tissue to ameliorate the symptoms of other neurodegenerative diseases is being considered. In this context, a small number of transplant experiments have been carried out in monkeys with lesions of the central dopamine and cholinergic systems. These experiments make it possible to determine the optimum methods of transplantation in an animal whose brain is structurally more closely related to the human than that of the rat and to assess the behavioral consequences of transplantation on symptoms that either resemble very closely the symptoms seen in patients, or are of a complex cognitive nature and are therefore more difficult to measure in the rat. It is intended that these experiments will contribute to the development of better treatments for the neurodegenerative diseases, either by the use of transplantation as a clinical treatment, or by contributing to a better understanding of the mechanisms that normally maintain neuronal function and that fail in these diseases.     

Le syndrome de Klinefelter chez l'enfant

Klinfelter syndrome was first described in adult males with gynecomastia, azoospermia and hypergonadotropic hypogonadism. Children with the 47, XXY karyotype demonstrate few clinical findings so Klinefelter syndrome is rarely diagnosed until adult life. Besides children who have been diagnosed during prenatal genetic testing, in infancy a male with 47, XXY (or variants: 46, XY-47, XXY; 48, XXXY; 48, XXYY, 49, XXXXY) may be found while undergoing evaluation of micropenis, hypospadias, cryptorchidism or facial anomalies. The older child may present with learning disabilities, behavior disorders or tall stature. At the time of puberty, the clinical picture includes small testes, gynecomastia and an eunuchoid habitus. Early diagnosis of Klinefelter syndrome must be performed since it has been demonstrated that early treatment with androgens may ameliorate many aspects of the clinical symptoms and attenuate or prevent behavioral and psychiatric disorders associated with 47, XXY males.     

Le devenir du Klinefelter

Medical prognosis of Klinefelter's Syndrome (KS) has to been elucidate. our knowledge about the future of KS beyond infancy or military enrolement is poor. We report 33 cases of KS issued from various departments, aged from 20 to 65 years, who served as a support for study of the litterature. It was then possible to determine two groups of risk. The first group relates undetermined risk factors because reported cases are rare (Various Tumors; Leukemia); however these facts appear surpass a mere coincidence. Abnormal glucid regulation and hyperinsulinism are also described. The second group of facts relates more meaningful risks as breast carcinoma, osteoporosis and lower leg ulcers. Since patients develop frequently autoimmune diseases, this would be the missing link between some pathologies and the sex anomaly. Suprisingly testicular tumors are rare in spite of numerous intrinseque factors of risk.     

Expression of foreign genes in mammalian cells using an antibody fusion system

An expression system is described whereby a gene product is expressed fused to an antibody Fab fragment to form an antibody-like molecule The antigen binding function of the original antibody is retained and the foreign gene replaces the C_H2 and C_H3 regions of the heavy chain. The fusion protein is secreted as if it were an antibody, and can be purified using the antigen-binding function of the Fab-Iike part of the molecule. In principle any open reading frame can be expressed and it is not necessary to develop an individual purification scheme, or any analytical reagents such as antibodies, for the expressed protein, as both these functions can be performed by the Fab part of the fusion protein. In practice, the nature of the nonantibodv part of the fusion influences the efficiency of expression and secretion, and detailed guidance is given on trouble-shooting and maximizing expression.     

Génétique moléculaire des dysgénésies testiculaires

The first step of male differentiation is the testis determination which is genetically controled. The key role of SRY gene is now established. However, a number of clinical and genetic data favoured the role of other genes taking place upstream or downstream SRY. Most of 46, XX males possess a translocated SRY gene and thus develop testis, but SRY gene is not found in 10% of such patients. Likewise, the molecular study of 46, XY females participated in the identification of SRY as testis determining factor, but 80% of XY gonadal dysgenesis are not explained by an abnormality of SRY gene. Several clinical situations permitted to suspect the role of autosomal (chromosome 1, 9, 10 17 …) and X chromosome loci in the pathology of sex determination. Some recent works concern, in particular, the testis determining factor of the X chromosome (TDF-X) that could act as a repressor of the testis differentiation. In conclusion, molecular mechanisms of sexual determination appear to be much complex, involving probably several genes in a pathway that remain to be elucidated.     

Anomalies des autosomes et infertilité masculine

Spermatogenesis impairment is frequently associated with autosomal rearrangements. A meiotic study was performed on testicular biopsies of men ascertained through primary fertility and found to be heterozygous for reciprocal translocation, Robertsonian translocations, inversions and extra chromosomes. Pairing failure at meiosis as well as intimate associations between rearranged autosomes and the XY bivalent have been discussed as a cause of gametogenic arrest.     

Trace-elements status in camels

Data relating to trace-elements status in camels is scarce, from both a clinical and biochemical point of view. Clinical deficiency or toxicity has rarely been described in this species. However, there is a some evidence that camels are sensitive to trace element disorders in the same way as other ruminants. For example, copper deficiency in camels has been reported in East Africa. Normal plasma level is comparable to cattle (70–120 mg/100 mL). Camels appear to maintain zinc levels at a lower value than other domestic ruminants (<60μg/100 mL). Iron metabolism is more active in the liver than in the spleen. Data concerning manganese levels are possibly unreliable. Some cases of selenium deficiency (white muscle disease) have been reported. No data are available for cobalt status in camels. Finally, camels appear to be more sensitive to iodine deficiency than the other domestic ruminants.     

Vanadium compounds

The direct effect of different vanadium compounds upon alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity was investigated. Vanadate and vanadyl inhibited both the soluble and particulate ALP activity from UMR.106 cells and from bovine intestinal ALP. We have also shown the inhibition of ALP activity in the soluble fraction of osteoblasts by peroxo and hydroperoxo vanadium compounds. ALP activity in the particulate fraction was not inhibited by these species; nor was the bovine intestinal ALP. Using inhibitors of Tyr-phosphatase (PTPases), the soluble ALP was partially characterized as a PTPase. The major activity in the particulate fraction represents the bone-specific ALP-activity. This study demonstrates that different forms of vanadium are direct inhibitors of ALP activity. This effect is dependent on the enzymatic activity investigated and on the origin of the ALP.     

A search for mutations that affect the non-oxidative pentose phosphate pathway inSaccharomyces cerevisiae

A number of selection strategies have been devised to obtain mutations in the non-oxidative pentose phosphate pathway in the yeastSaccharomyces cerevisiae. Some of these schemes exploit the bidirectionality of this pathway by selecting for mutants that can grow on a mixture of two carbon sources, which allow the pathway to function in opposite directions, while failing to utilize either of them alone. Other strategies select for mutations that prevent growth on glucono-5-lactone or xylulose, compounds metabolized exclusively through the pentose phosphate pathway. In the present study, these schemes yielded 35 mutants that define 11 genetic complementation groups. None of these mutations, however, affected the activity of the pathway enzymes, assayed in cell-free extracts. Nevertheless, the mutants were deficient in various aspects of carbohydrate metabolism and in the biosynthesis of the aromatic amino acids. The problems associated with the selection of mutants directly affected in the functioning of the enzymes of the non-oxidative pentose phosphate pathway have been discussed.     

Morphology of the slashed pod trait in lentil

Reducing losses from pod shatter is a major goal of most lentil (Lens culinaris) improvement programs, however, genetic variability is limited. Recently, a slashed pod trait was suggested to have potential value for reducing losses from shattering, but little was known about the trait. In this study we determined the anatomical features which were associated with the slashed pod trait. Histological specimens from ‘Brewer’ lentil (normal pods) and from germplasm lines expressing the slashed pod trait were compared to each other and to specimens from normal and reduced pod parchment pea (Pisum sativum) lines. Reduced parchment pea pods had less sclerenchyma tissue and fewer fibers than pea pods with normal parchment, but all lentil pods examined had comparable sclerenchyma tissue with similar quantities of fiber. The slashed pod trait was not the result of reduced sclerenchyma tissue (parchment) as had been previously suggested. Apparently, the slashed pod trait resulted from the stresses which develop between fiber cells within the sclerenchyma layer of the pod wall during pod maturation and drying. The trait had little effect on quality of seeds for human utilization in the environments tested but may have an undesirable effect in other environments. Although seed loss due to shatter appeared to be decreased in pods exhibiting the trait, the uncertainty of expression due to environmental influences makes the trait an unlikely candidate for use in lentil improvement programs.     

Indications d’une étude méiotique dans l’infertilité masculine

Meiotic investigation is rare in male infertility. Now, some mutations affecting spermatogenesis exhibit characteristic cytogenetic figures, whereas testicular histology does not show specific aspects of this pathology. In male infertility with abnormal somatic caryotype, the aim of meiotic survey is to find the mechanisms inducing spermatogenic failure, and thus to lead to a better understanding of normal spermatogenesis. In addition to cytogenetic techniques, meiosis is also investigated by electron microscopy and molecular biology. Also, we think that a larger place must be grant to meiotic study in male infertility evaluation when the indication of testicular histopathology was settled.     

Altered GABAergic and glutamatergic transmission in audiogenic seizure-susceptible mice

The C57BL/10 SPS/sps mouse mutant are audiogenic seizure-susceptible. The enzymatic activities of glutamate decarboxylase (GAD), GABA aminotransferase (GABA-T), alanine aminotransferase (ALA-T), aspartate aminotransferase (ASP-T), and glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) of whole brain supernatant are significantly reduced in these epileptic mice. GABA uptake is decreased in cortex, midbrain, and pons medulla. Previous studies showed the presence of two sodium-dependent GLU uptake systems in normal (SPS/SPS) mice. Glutamate U_max by System 1 is significantly decreased in these mice, whereas the U_max value for System 2 is significantly increased in the epileptic mice.     

Etats épididymaire,prostatique et vésiculaire en relation avec les paramètres du spermogramme chez les hommes consultant pour infertilité

The semen results from the mixture on ejaculation of various secretions from the testicle, the genital tract and the adnex glands. It consists on a cellular phase: spermatozoa and a liquidian phase: the seminal plasma. The spermogram is the first exam to make in order to set diagnosis of male infertility. It is completed with a biochemical study of the semen to find an excretory origin to infertility. In this work, we have studied the frequences of prostatic, vesicular and epididymious anomalys, through dosage of their markers in the semen, in 146 males consulting for infertility and eventual relationships between these markers and the characteristics of the spermogram. We found out that the prostate is the most hurt portion of the genital tract in infertile males and presents a dysfunctioning in 32,26% of cases, most often resulting in an inflammatory states of this gland. The epididymious obstruction is detected in 35% of azoospermia cases. In all the cases, we found out significant statistical correlation between the semen volume and the activity of alpha 1–4 glucosidase and also the pH of the semen and the seminal citric acid. For patients having a high leucospermia we didn’t find any relationship between the leucocytes rate in the semen and the different biochemical markers. If the seminal fructose rate has no effect on the initial mobility of spermatozoa, it has a statistically significant effect on their survival. In fact, the diminution of seminal fructose coincides with a bad survival of spermatozoa, which shows the importance of this spermatic substrate on the maintaining of spermatozoa mobility.     

Procréation médicalement assistée et paraplégie masculine — Expérience Montpellieraine

Between 1980 and 1993, seventy one tetra or paraplegic patients consulted in order to know more about their “procreative status”. After being taken into care in an appropriate enviroinment, specialized in the treatment of ejaculation disorders and following a semen analysis, twenty two patients decided to procreate. Their vertebral lesions were located in the cervical region (5 cases), drom D1 to D10 (10 cases), from D11 to L1 (6 cases) and from L2 to L5 (1 case). Eighteen patients suffered from complete lesions. Nineteen patients achieved an ejaculation: fifteen cases of antegrade ejaculations, three cases of retrograde ejaculations and one mixed one. Out of eighteen pregnancies — for fourteen couples — nine were obtained in Assisted Reproductive Technology: three of them after an intravaginal artificial insemination, one following an intracervical artificial insemination, two after an intrauterine artificial insemination, two through an in vitro fertilization (IVF), one following a transfer of frozen embryos obtained through IVF with some epididymal spermatozoon. An Assisted Reproductive Technology strategy is being proposed, which takes into account the number of available progressive moving spermatozoon.     

Diversity in two candidate malaria vaccine antigens in different Indian strains ofPlasmodium falciparum

Polymorphism in two malarial antigens, merozoite surface antigen-1 (MSA-1) and ring erythrocyte surface antigen (RESA), has been characterized in four different Indian strains ofPlasmodium falciparum. The Indian strains were obtained from two malaria endemic regions of India, viz. Surat (Gujarat) and Delhi, and established in culture. Monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies raised against different domains of these antigens were used in the study. In MSA-1 a novel intragenic crossover was detected in the central conserved domain in two of the Indian strains. The repeat domain of RESA was found to be absent in the two strains ofP. falciparum isolated from Surat. These differences in immunoreactivity have been extended to the DNA level by appropriate PCR studies. MSA-1 and RESA are candidate vaccine antigens and these diversities will have an important bearing on the design of a suitable malaria vaccine.     

Spermatozoïdes,environnement et prévention

Over the last fivty years, the risk factors for infertility have increased substantially, particularly those due to the environment. Spermatogenesis and spermatozoa can be affected by physical (ionizing radiation microwaves, heat, cryopreservation) or chemical agents (antimitotics drugs, antibiotics, tranquillizers, insecticides, pesticides, industrial solvants, some heavy metals, alcohol, cannabis etc.). Some natural factors, as stress or paternal age (ageing or very youthful age relatively to about thirty) also seems to affect spermatogenesis and, particularly, the age can be joined with the previous ones. On the whole, these factors are able to decrease the male fertility through some changes about the concentration, the motility or the morphology of spermatozoa and so it is possible to describe populations subject to the risk. Moreover, these spermatogenetic changes can lead abnormalities in progeny. For instance, some antimitotic drugs as cyclophosphamide, when administrated to the male rat, lead malformations or functional anomalies as behavioral troubles. The industrial solvents lead a decrease of the birth weight and the cannabis leads an increase of the ante-or post-natal death. Moreover, the change of the paternal spermatogenesis caused by cannabis can be found again in the male progeny. The problem is similar with the lead, the benzodiazepines and the alcohol. Concerning the physical factors, some authors have shown that the children born from radiation exposed fathers presented an increase of the probability of leukemia. In animal, the postimplantation loss is increased when the father is irradiated or subjected to heat before mating. Finally, the paternal ageing is responsible for new dominant autosomic mutations. Moreover, in animal and man, paternal ageing and, in man, very youthful age, also seems responsible for a gradual lowering in the level of progency cerebral functions. On the whole, these data should lead to an preventive attitude which would be more effective before about thirty years of age than after this period.     

Germes à tropisme cellulaire (Chlamydiae,Mycoplasmes) et perturbation de la fécondance du sperme

Many factors are liable to be risk factors for fertility in the human male. Among these factors, semen infections are frequently quoted, and more specially semen infections with chlamydia trachomatis and those with mycoplasma. In this review of the literature, the author focused on the potential effects of such chlamydia or mycoplasma infections upon the fertilization ability of spermatozoa, as assessed through semen parameters, fertilization rate     

L’insémination intrautérine dans l’éjaculation rétrograde. Importance du pH et de l’osmolarité sur la mobilité des spermatozoïdes

The effect of pH and osmolarity on motility of human spermatozoa in retrograde ejaculation was studied in a freshly voided urine specimen. The maximum rate of motility is obtained when the pH ranged from 7.0 to 7.5 and osmolarity from 300 to 400 m.osmol/Kg. Thus the control of these two parameters allowed us to improve sperm motility and to perform intrauterine insemination with ovarian hyperstimulation. The different causes of retrograde ejaculation in this study are diabetes, surgical injury and idiopathic. Fifty-one intrauterine insemination cycles were realized in twenty-three patients, and eleven pregnancies are obtained (21.5% per cycle).     

Plant radioresistance and DNA repair efficiency inChlamydomonas reinhardtii andPisum sativum

This paper compares the repair of DNA single strand breaks (ssb) induced by γ-radiation in two strains ofChlamydomonas reinhardtii (137C/+/ and UVS-I) and three lines ofPisum sativum (NN 131, 198, 140) differing in the degree of radioresistance. DNA ssb in cells exposed to γ-rays (50, 100, 200, 500 Gy) were measured by electrophoresis and alkaline unwinding method with subsequent chromatography on hydroxyapatite immediately after irradiation and after 30 min of post-irradiation incubation at 25°C. An increase of double-strand DNA (in%) was found in cells after 30 min post-irradiation incubation.C. reinhardtii strains displayed an equal level of DNA degradation and repair efficiency in the DNA single strand breaks. The radioresistant line N 198 ofP. sativum is characterized by a lower level of induced DNA ssb and higher efficiency of repair of these breaks as compared with less radioresistant lines NN 131 and 140.     

CMVH,HSV et procréation

At least two members of the herpesviridae family, the human cytomegaloviruses (HCMV) and the herpes simplex viruses (HSV) can be found in human semen; but the role of the germ cells in the sexual transmission of these viruses is not clear. In teenagers and the adult population, sexual contact is considered to be a common mode of HCMV acquisition. HCMV was isolated from semen specimens of 33 % of HIV infected homosexual men, 20 % of HIV uninfected homosexual men and only of 2,4 % of healthy heterosexual men. Virus particles could be demonstrated by electron microscopy examination inside the sperm head as well as in the seminal liquid but at present, there is no direct evidence either for HCMV transmission via fertilization or for induction of fetal anomalies by vertical transmission. Transmission via donor semen is undoubtedly possible although not yet described and it may be safer to employ HCMV seronegative donor for all recipients, regardless of the recipient’s serologic status. The development of serologic assays that differentiate the two serotypes of HSV demonstrated the worldwide distribution of genital HSV-2 which has been increasing in many developed countries throughout the last two decades. In several studies, HSV-2 has been recovered from the male reproductive tract, specifically the prostate, seminal vesicles, vasa and testes, in the absence of active lesions. In contrast, tissue cultures of semen sampled during lesion-free periods had been uniformly negative for HSV. However recently, one report documents transmission of HSV-2 via therapeutic donor insemination and illustres the fact that semen might be a vehicle of transmission of HSV. At present, it is adequate to recommend that men, with a history of a recurrent genital herpes or who have a sexual partner with such a history, are excluded as potential semen donors. Further, in the near future, with the increase of asymptomatic viral shedding from the genital tract, the presence of HSV-2 antibody could be added as an exclusion criterion.