Search results for "DNA Fragmentation"
showing 10 items of 116 documents
Swim-up procedure selects spermatozoa with longer telomere length.
2010
Telomere length and sperm DNA fragmentation were determined in sperm samples from 27 patients, using a quantitative PCR (Q-PCR) assay and the Sperm Chromatin Dispersion (SCD) test, respectively. Comparisons of the samples before and after swim-up processing demonstrated that this procedure selects a sperm population with longer average telomere size and lower frequency of sperm cells with fragmented DNA.
Sperm DNA fragmentation levels in testicular sperm samples from azoospermic males as assessed by the sperm chromatin dispersion (SCD) test.
2009
Objective To analyze sperm DNA fragmentation (SDF) in testicular sperm samples from patients with azoospermia either from spermatogenic failure or from duct obstruction. Several technologies can be applied in the evaluation of SDF, but given the ease and low costs, the sperm chromatin dispersion test (SCD) has emerged as a promising standard. Design Prospective blind observational cohort study. Setting University-affiliated private IVF setting. Patient(s) Azoospermic patients from couples undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection cycles. Intervention(s) Testicular sperm extraction (TESE). Main Outcome Measurement(s) We determined testicular SDF, and a basic comparison between nonobstructi…
Pregnenolone sulfate, a naturally occurring excitotoxin involved in delayed retinal cell death.
2002
The present study was designed to investigate the neurosteroid pregnenolone sulfate (PS), known for its ability to modulate NMDA receptors and interfere with acute excitotoxicity, in delayed retinal cell death. Three hours after exposure of the isolated and intact retina to a 30-min PS pulse, DNA fragmentation as assessed by genomic DNA gel electrophoresis and a modified in situ terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end-labeling (TUNEL) method appeared concurrently with an increase in superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) levels. At 7 h, the increased amount of DNA laddering was accompanied by a higher number of TUN…
New Insights Into Mitochondrial DNA Reconstruction and Variant Detection in Ancient Samples
2021
Ancient DNA (aDNA) studies are frequently focused on the analysis of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which is much more abundant than the nuclear genome, hence can be better retrieved from ancient remains. However, postmortem DNA damage and contamination make the data analysis difficult because of DNA fragmentation and nucleotide alterations. In this regard, the assessment of the heteroplasmic fraction in ancient mtDNA has always been considered an unachievable goal due to the complexity in distinguishing true endogenous variants from artifacts. We implemented and applied a computational pipeline for mtDNA analysis to a dataset of 30 ancient human samples from an Iron Age necropolis in Poliz…
Caspase-mediated apoptosis in sponges: cloning and function of the phylogenetic oldest apoptotic proteases from Metazoa
2003
AbstractSponges (phylum Porifera) represent the phylogenetically oldest metazoan phylum. These animals have complex cell adhesion and powerful immune systems which allow the formation of a distinct body plan. Consequently, an apoptotic machinery has to be predicted that allows sponges to eliminate unwanted cells accumulating during development. With the marine sponge Geodia cydonium, it is shown that allografts of these animals undergo apoptosis as demonstrated by apoptotic DNA fragmentation. Extracts from allografts contain an enzymic activity characteristic for caspases; as substrate to determine the cleavage activity, Ac-DEVD-AMC was applied. cDNAs encoding predicted caspase-3-related pr…
Involvement of PKC and NF-κB in Nitric Oxide Induced Apoptosis in Human Coronary Artery Smooth Muscle Cells
2001
Apoptosis of vascular smooth muscle cells is critically involved in progression of atherosclerosis and may prevent intimal hyperplasia in restenosis and vascular remodeling. Nitric oxide (NO) is known to induce apoptosis, but the signaling pathways still remain unclear. We investigated p53 accumulation, protein kinase C (PKC) activation and nuclear transcription factor (NF-kappaB) binding activity as possible signaling mechanisms of NO-induced apoptosis. Apoptosis was induced dose-dependently with the NO-donors sodiumnitroprusside (SNP: 232+/-48%) and SIN-1 (241+/-90% of actinomycin D induced apoptosis; means +/- SEM, *por =0.05 vs. control) in HSMC. Inhibition of PKC significantly attenuat…
APOPTOSIS RATE IN CUMULUS CELLS AS POSSIBLE MOLECULAR BIOMARKER FOR OOCYTE COMPETENCE.
2017
Several lines of evidence showed that apoptosis rate of cumulus cells in oocytes derived by assisted reproductive technologies could be used as an indicator of fertilizing gamete quality. Aim of the study was to investigate the effects of three different ovarian stimulation protocols on the biological and clinical outcome in hyporesponder patients. Collected data showed a higher significant rate of DNA fragmentation index (DFI) in U group (patients treated with Highly Purified human Menopausal Gonadotrophin) than in P group (treated with recombinant human Follicle Stimulating Hormone (r-hFSH) combined with recombinant human Luteinizing Hormone (r-hLH)). Both groups R (treated with r-hFSH al…
Protection of Flupirtine on β-Amyloid-Induced Apoptosis in Neuronal Cells In Vitro: Prevention of Amyloid-Induced Glutathione Depletion
2002
Effective drugs are not available to protect against beta-amyloid peptide (A beta)-induced neurotoxicity. Cortical neurons from rat embryos were treated with the toxic fragment A beta25-35 at 1 microM in the presence or absence of flupirtine, a triaminopyridine, successfully applied clinically as a nonopiate analgesic drug. Five days later 1 microM A beta25-35 caused reduction of cell viability to 31.1%. Preincubation of cells with flupirtine (1 or 5 microg/ml) resulted in a significant increase of the percentage of viable cells (74.6 and 65.4%, respectively). During incubation with A beta25-35 the neurons undergo apoptosis as determined by appearance of the characteristic stepladder-like D…
Type V collagen regulates the expression of apoptotic and stress response genes by breast cancer cells.
2004
Type V collagen is a "minor" component of normal human breast stroma, which is subjected to over-deposition in cases of ductal infiltrating carcinoma (DIC). We reported that, if used as a culture substrate for the DIC cell line 8701-BC, it exhibited poorly-adhesive properties and restrained the proliferative and motile behavior of the cell subpopulation able to attach onto it. Moreover, this collagen species was able to trigger DNA fragmentation and impair survival of 8701-BC cells. In this study, we have extended our investigation with the aim to obtain further evidence that the death induced by type V collagen was of the apoptotic type by (i) microscopic detection and quantitation of Apop…
Release of Hypoacetylated and Trimethylated Histone H4 Is an Epigenetic Marker of Early Apoptosis
2006
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