Ovarian failure is the most common cause of infertility and affects about 1% young women. One innovative strategy to restore ovarian function may be represented by development a bioprosthetic ovary, obtained through combination tissue engineering regenerative medicine.We here describe two main steps required for bioengineering ovary its ex vivo functional reassembling. The first step aims at pr...

Freshwater mussels, Elliptio complanata were collected from a reference and pollutant-impacted pond on Cape Cod, MA. Glutathione-S-transferase (GST) activity was measured in gill, hepatopancreas and foot. In addition, content of seven heavy metals were measured in whole bodies. GST activity was significantly elevated in hepatopancreas and foot, as was whole body cadmium level in animals from th...

Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) induces serum amyloid A (SAA) 3 among acute-phase proteins in mouse granulosa cells by activating NF-κB signaling via p55 TNF-α receptor type 1. However, the localization of SAA3 within the ovary is unknown. Here we investigated ovarian localization of SAA3 in a mouse ovulation model and in response to IL-1β, a proinflammatory mediator. For the ovulation model, e...

Massive ovarian oedema is an uncommon cause of adnexal mass, first described by Kalstone in 1969 [1–7]. Massive solid enlargement of the ovary can be associated with interstitial oedema without neoplastic changes and is considered to be the result of torsion of the ovary. This can be easily mistaken for neoplasm, in which case the appropriate treatment will be removal of the whole ovary. Howeve...

We have examined the expression and regulation of the two estrogen receptor (ER alpha and ER beta) genes in the rat ovary, using Northern blotting, RT-PCR, and in situ hybridization histochemistry. Northern blotting results show that the ovary expresses both ER alpha and ER beta genes as single (approximately 6.5-kb) and multiple (ranging from approximately 1.0-kb to approximately 10.0-kb) tran...

Among endocrine organs, ovaries are unique because their function is supported by an ever-changing number of histological entities, the ovarian follicles, which themselves subject to asynchronous development from formation up ovulation. Follicle combines finely controlled processes cell dynamics with original morphogenesis steps. Understanding follicle populations, on whole ovary level, and cou...

The application of decellularized scaffolds for artificial tissue reconstruction has been an approach with great therapeutic potential in regenerative medicine. Recently, biomimetic ovarian was proposed to reestablish endocrine functions. Despite many decellularization methods proposed, there is no established protocol whole ovaries by detergent perfusion that able preserve macro and microstruc...

In mammalian ovary, steroidogenic acute regulatory (StAR) protein mediates the true rate-limiting step of transport of cholesterol from outer to inner mitochondrial membrane. Appropriate expression of StAR gene represents an indispensable component of steroidogenesis and its regulation has been found to be species specific. However, limited information is available regarding StAR gene expressio...