introduction: among the components of the extracellular matrix (ecm) and basement membrane (bm), laminitis heterotrimeric glycoprotein (laminin) and collagen type iv are the most important. in a previous study we have examined the role of collagen type iv in the developing lens capsule. the present study aims to determine the appearance and distribution of laminin in the bm and ecm of lenses du...

background: gonadotropin-releasing hormone (gnrh) is a reproductive key hormone. the gnrh analogues are widely used in in vitro fertilization and treatment of sex hormone-depended cancers induced by the materials used in chemotherapeutic agents. objective: the aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of cyclophosphamide and decapeptyl (analogues of gnrh) on histomorphometry and stereology o...

background: the interaction between follicular cells and oocyte leads to a change in gene expression involved in oocyte maturation processes. objective: the purpose of this study was to quantify the expression of more common genes involved in follicular growth and oocyte developmental competence. materials and methods: in this experimental study, the expression of genes was evaluated with qrt-p...

background: leishmaniasis is a complex disease which presents as visceral, cutaneous and mucocutaneous forms. the current treatment options for this infection are very limited and the immunological state of the host appears to play an important role in the efficacy of the treatment. immunostimulation through immune response activating agents such as imiquimod is another rational approach for th...

background: the ovariectomized animals are good models to evaluate the effect of different steroid hormone treatments on implantation events and the pattern of integrin expression. therefore, this study was performed to compare the expression of integrins and osteopontin (opn) in correlation with pinopode development in ovariectomized mice endometrium which was subjected to steroid hormones. me...

traditionally, lactuca sativa (lettuce) has been recommended for its hypnotic property.the present study was planned to investigate sleep-prolonging effect of this plant. the hydroalcoholicextract (hae) of lettuce and its water fraction (wf), ethyl acetate fraction (eaf),and n-butanol fraction (nbf) were administrated (ip) to mice 30 min before the pentobarbitalinjection. moreover, both in-vivo...

protective action of ficus carica leaf ethanolic extract (obtained by maceration) was evaluated in an animal model of hepatotoxicity induced by carbon tetrachloride (ccl4). male albino mice were divided into six groups. group i was normal control group; group ii received olive oil (ccl4 solvent), groups iii-vi received ccl4. after inducing hepatic damage, group iii served as control for ccl4; a...

background: in some disorders such as diabetes mellitus patients can display depressive symptoms. metformin is among the first-line treatments for management of the type 2 diabetes mellitus which may have some anti-depressant effect. objective: current investigation was performed to examine the anti-depressant effects of metformin and the involvement of nitric oxide (no) in this way, in an expe...

vitex agnus castus (chasteberry) is a popular treatment for the management of female reproductive disorders including corpus luteum insufficiency, premenstrual syndrome (pms), menopausal symptoms, and insufficient milk production. according to developing situation of complementary medicine, and frequent use of this herb, it is important to examine its effects during pregnancy. in this research ...

objective(s): pioglitazone (actos) is one of the most controversial recent oral antidiabetic drugs. it was originally authorized in the european :union: in 2000, and approved as an oral monotherapy for overweight second type of diabetic patients in 2002. it belongs to the thiazolidinedione group which some of its members have been withdrawn from the market due to the hepatotoxicity or cardiotox...