It has been suggested that preculturing immature oocytes in a manner that maintains them in meiotic arrest may improve cytoplasmic maturation and, thereby, the eventual developmental competence of oocytes matured in vitro. This study examined the ability of follicular cells to maintain meiotic arrest in equine oocytes. Cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) recovered from dead mares were cultured for ...

background: despite the extensive information available in the literature, cell surface marker signature of human amniotic epithelial cells (haecs) remains controversial. the aim of the present study was to characterize immuno-phenotypic features, proliferative capacity and immunogenicity of haecs. we also tested whether expression of some cell surface markers is influenced by the type of tryps...

Human ovarian follicular fluid contains renin-like activity. In normal women, circulating levels of prorenin, the biosynthetic precursor of renin (EC 3.4.23.15), change in parallel with changes in progesterone during the menstrual cycle. Therefore, the ovary has been implicated as a source of plasma prorenin. In the present studies, we report the finding of high concentrations of prorenin in hu...

Female fertility is determined in part by the size and development of the primordial follicle pool. The current study investigates the role of glial cell-line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) in the regulation of primordial follicle development in the ovary. Ovaries from 4-day-old female rat pups were maintained in organ culture for 10 days in the absence (control) or presence of GDNF or kit ...

background : cancer stem cells are a subgroup of tumor cells that have the capability for self-renewal and differentiation and are characterized by multiple markers. several studies have been conducted to identify these cells in colorectal cancer, including stem cell marker cd24. this study has evaluatedtheassociation of cd24 expression with clinicopathologic features and survival in an immunoh...

background: mesenchymal stem cells (mscs) with their potential to differentiate into mesodermal and non-mesodermal lineages have several immunomodulatory characteris-tics. these properties make them promising tools in cell and gene therapy. objective: to evaluate the potential therapeutic applications of autologous msc in improving clinical manifestations of ms patients. methods: ten patients w...

The preantral-early antral follicle transition is the penultimate stage of follicular development in terms of gonadotropin dependence and follicle destiny (growth versus atresia). Follicular growth during this period is tightly regulated by oocyte-granulosa-theca cell interactions. Formation of the theca cell layer is a key event that occurs during this transitional stage. Granulosal factor(s) ...

stem cells are undifferentiated cells with the ability of proliferation, regeneration, conversion to differentiated cells and producing various tissues. stem cells are divided into two categories of embryonic and adult. in another categorization stem cells are divided to totipotent, multipotent and unipotent cells. so far usage of stem cells in treatment of various blood diseases has been studi...

low-intensity laser therapy (lilt) is defined to supply direct biostimulative light energy to the cells. while several studies have demonstrated that lilt has stimulating effects on bone cells and can accelerate the repair process of the bone, others reported delayed fracture healing or no effects after lilt. the aim of this article was to review the studies evaluating the biomodulation effects...

chronic myeloid leukemia (cml) is a myeloproliferative disease of the hematopoietic stem cells, characterized by the presence of the philadelphia (ph) chromosome. although imatinib inhibits the bcr-abl kinase activity, clinical experiences confirm that imatinib may not target cml stem cells in vivo. the identification of signaling pathways responsible for the self-renewal properties of leukemic...