Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) are a member of nuclear receptors superfamily, which mainly regulate the expression of target genes involved in lipid and energy metabolism. These receptors are divided to three isotypes: PPARα, PPARγ and PPARβ/δ. Each isotype has a distinct tissue distribution relating to the distinct functions. In this study, the mRNA abundance for PPARα, PP...

Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) is a novel 25-kD protein of human neutrophils, that is in part covalently complexed with neutrophil gelatinase. However, both NGAL and gelatinase exist mainly in forms not associated with each other. An explanation for this phenomenon might be that the unassociated proteins reside in different subcellular compartments. The aim of the present stu...

Previous studies showed that interleukin-6 (IL-6) was expressed in human Leydig and Sertoli cells and that it inhibited sperm motility. The aim of this study was to compare the expression of IL-6, IL-6R, and GP130 in ejaculated spermatozoa between normozoospermic and asthenozoospermic men. Human spermatozoa in the semen were purified by Percoll gradient technique to separate the seminal plasma ...

Aim. The aim of our study was to describe the leukocyte phenotype at the fetalmaternal interface after separation of the trophoblast cells and uterine leukocytes from endometrial tissue samples. Materials and methods. The tissues were processed and submitted to 3 cycles of enzymatic digestion then the cells were separated by centrifugation over a Percoll gradient. We investigated by flow-cytome...

Nylon wool-nonadherent splenic cells from 7- to 8-week-old CBA mice were further fractionated on discontinuous Percoll gradients. Enrichment of natural killer (NK) cells in Percoll fractions 1 and 2 was confirmed by morphological examination, by immunofluorescent staining, and by assessing the cytolytic activity of each Percoll cell fraction against YAC-1 targets in the 4-h51Cr release assay. C...

Alkaline siliceous hot spring microbial mats in Yellowstone National Park are composed of two dominant phototropic groups, cyanobacteria and green non-sulfur-like bacteria (GNSLB). While cyanobacteria are thought to cross-feed low-molecular-weight organic compounds to support photoheterotrophic metabolism in GNSLB, it is unclear how this could lead to the heavier stable carbon isotopic signatur...

To evaluate the clinical efficacy of a procedure comprising a combination of Percoll continuous density gradient and modified swim-up techniques for the removal of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) from the semen of HIV-1 infected males, a total of 129 couples with an HIV-1 positive male partner and an HIV-1 negative female partner (serodiscordant couples) who were treated at Keio Uni...

A method for isolating A spermatogonia from the adult vitamin A-deficient (VAD) rat testis is described. After removal, the testes were decapsulated and tubules were dissected. An enzymatic digestion with collagenase, hyaluronidase, and trypsin was performed first to eliminate most of the interstitial cells. A second digestion with collagenase and hyaluronidase was performed to obtain a cell su...