👤 Bahia N Jahromi

Stressful conditions increase alcohol consumption in men. Clinical studies link disruption of the neuroendocrine stress system with alcoholism, but the effect of alcohol in a stress condition on male fertility is still relatively poorly understood. This project was undertaken to evaluate the effect of sub-chronic alcohol in a stress condition on male fertility in a rat model. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into a control group, a stress group that was exposed to restraint stress, an ethanol group that was injected with ethanol daily, and a stress + ethanol group that was injected with ethanol daily and was exposed to restraint stress, simultaneously. Furthermore, testis tissue was evaluated histomorphometrically and immunohistochemically for apoptosis using a TUNEL assay after 12 days. Epididymis sperm analysis was done. Blood cortisol and testosterone were measured and expression of hypothalamic kisspeptin (Kiss1), RFRP-3, and MC4R mRNA were evaluated. Ethanol exposure during restraint stress did not alter body weight. Ethanol exposure decreased the cellular diameter and area, and stress increased the cellular diameter and area, in comparison with the control group. In the stress group, in comparison with the other groups, the number of seminiferous tubules decreased and the numerical density of seminiferous tubules increased. In addition, ethanol exposure and/or stress reduced semen analysis parameters (sperm viability and motility), but did not change serum testosterone concentrations. Apoptosis increased in spermatogonia with ethanol exposure, but spermatocytes were not affected. Our data present the novel finding that ethanol and stress reduced hypothalamic Kiss1 mRNA expression, while ethanol exposure decreased hypothalamic RFRP-3 and MC4R mRNA expression. Ethanol decreased cortisol hormone level during the restraint stress condition and attenuated hypothalamic reproductive-related gene expressions. Therefore, ethanol exposure may induce reduction of sperm viability, increased sperm mortality, and increased apoptosis, with long-term effects, and may induce permanent male subfertility. Show less

Preeclampsia (PE) is one of the most serious disorders of human pregnancy with a high rate of mortality for the fetus and mother. Several etiological factors are involved in the onset of this disease. Upregulation of IL-27 has been reported in placental tissue recovered from preeclamptic women, but the role of IL-27 has not yet been investigated in PE. The aim of the study was to investigate the association of IL-27 rs153109 and rs17855750 gene polymorphisms with PE; also, protein levels and susceptibility and severity of PE in Iranian women were evaluated. This case-control study was performed on 199 PE patients and 228 healthy women as the control group. IL-27 rs153109 and rs17855750 SNPs were genotyped using a PCR-RFLP method. Moreover, the levels of IL-27 were determined in 40 PE and 45 healthy women using ELISA method. Statistical analysis indicated that there were no differences in genotype, allele and genotype combination frequencies in the SNPs between cases and controls. The plasma level of IL-27 was elevated in the mild form of the disease compared with controls (p-value: 0.006). The effect of IL-27 in preeclampsia is not due to the studied cytokine polymorphisms, but the level of IL-27 might be associated with the severity of preeclampsia in Iranian women. Show less