Chlamydia trachomatis is a major cause of sexually transmitted diseases worldwide. There is currently no vaccine to protect against chlamydial infection of the female reproductive tract. Vaccine development has predominantly utilised the murine model; however, infection of female guinea pigs with Chlamydia caviae more closely resembles chlamydial infection of the human female reproductive tract...

Female and male reproductive tracts are of interest sites to study of immune system because they encounter specific infections such as those are sexually transmitted. Furthermore, female reproductive tract is in close contact with allogenic sperms and transmitted microorganisms during intercourse and semi allogenic fetus during pregnancy. In mammals, there are two types of immune responses, the...

Sexual conflict over fertilization may in animals with internal fertilization initiate an evolutionary arms race that causes the female reproductive tract to become hostile to sperm performance if females with more selective reproductive tracts have their eggs fertilized by sperm of superior quality. This hypothesis suggests that sperm should perform better when tested in a physiologically neut...

MARIANA F. WOLFNER Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 USA E-mail:mariana.wolfner@cornell.edu Nitric oxide (NO) plays important roles in numerous physiological processes in many animals. In mammals, NO regulates muscle contractions in the female reproductive tract [e.g. Ekerhovd et al. (1997) Hum. Repro. 12: 301-305; Yampalli et al. (1993) Endocrinol...

The murine female reproductive tract differentiates during postnatal development. This process of cytodifferentiation and morphogenesis is dependent upon specific mesenchymal-epithelial interactions as well as circulating steroid hormones (Cunha, G.R., 1976. Int. Rev. Cytol. 47, 137-194; Pavlova, A. et al., 1994. Development 120, 335-346). Members of the Wnt family of signaling molecules have b...

Pregnant female mice were exposed to diethylstilbestrol or 11 beta-methoxy-17 beta-estradiol on Days 9 to 16 of gestation. The female offspring of these animals were then examined for reproductive tract abnormalities. Scanning electron microscopic and histological evaluation of these specimens demonstrated reproductive tract lesions in all treatment groups when compared to matched control mice....

Congenital reproductive tract anomalies could impair fertility. Female and male reproductive tracts are developed from Müllerian ducts and Wolffian ducts, respectively, involving initiation, elongation and differentiation. Genetic basis solely for distal reproductive tract development is largely unknown. Lhfpl2 (lipoma HMGIC fusion partner-like 2) encodes a tetra-transmembrane protein with unkn...

During the preadult development of Drosophila melanogaster, the GLD (glucose dehydrogenase) gene (Gld) is expressed in a variety of tissues, including the immature reproductive tract. At the adult stage the expression of Gld becomes largely restricted to the reproductive tract of males and females. We examined the expression of GLD in the adult reproductive tract of 50 species in the genus Dros...

Like other mucosal surfaces (e.g., the gastrointestinal tract, the respiratory tract), the human female reproductive tract acts as an initial barrier to foreign antigens. In this role, the epithelial surface and subepithelial immune cells must balance protection against pathogenic insults against harmful inflammatory reactions and acceptance of particular foreign antigens. Two common examples o...