OBJECTIVE To determine the effect of storage duration on cryopreserved ovarian tissue using fresh and frozen-thawed samples. METHODS Seventeen fertile patients underwent an ovarian biopsy during elective laparoscopic tubal ligation. The tissue sample was divided into three parts: one part was processed fresh (FG), and two were slowly frozen, cryopreserved for 30 (G30) or 180 days (G180), thaw...

The adrenal glands consist of an outer cortex and an inner medulla, and their primary purposes include hormone synthesis and secretion. The adrenal cortex produces a complex array of steroid hormones, whereas the medulla is part of the sympathetic nervous system and produces the catecholamines epinephrine and norepinephrine. In the mouse, GATA binding protein (GATA) 4 and GATA6 transcription fa...

Introduction One of the amazing features of the corpus luteum (CL) is the rapidity with which a very heterogeneous population of cells becomes organized into a functional unit. These diverse cells then communicate both directly and through paracrine mediators to facilitate the steroidogenic function and also the transient nature of the CL. Once the hormonal regulators of luteal function and dem...

Streptozotocin (STZ) induced diabetic model has been widely used to study the effects of diabetes mellitus (DM) on male infertility, but it remains unclear whether the responses in this model are due to hyperglycemia or STZ per se. This study was designed to investigate the mechanism of STZ on testicular dysfunction. In the present study, sperm characteristics, serum testosterone, steroidogenic...

A link between elevated luteinizing hormone (LH) levels, GATA-4 and LH receptor (LHCGR) expression and gonadotropin-dependent adrenocortical tumorigenesis in humans and mice has been shown. To assess the mechanistic tumorigenic interrelationships between these factors, we transgenically expressed Gata4 under the 21-hydroxylase promoter (Cyp21a1, 21-OH) in C57Bl/6N mice. There was a gradual age-...

OBJECTIVE Ketoconazole (KCZ) is an anti-fungal agent extensively used for clinical applications related to its inhibitory effects on adrenal and testicular steroidogenesis. Much less information is available on the effects of KCZ on synthesis of steroid hormones in the ovary. The present study aimed to characterize the in situ effects of KCZ on steroidogenic enzymes in primary rat ovary cells. ...

1. The effects of opioid drugs and of Na+ replacement on steroidogenesis in rat adrenal cell suspensions were investigated. 2. In medium containing normal Na+ (156 mM), opioid antagonists but not opioid agonists reduced the steroidogenic response to adrenocorticotrophic hormone1-24 (ACTH1-24) but not to dibutyryl adenosine 3',5' cyclic monophosphate (db cyclic AMP). 3. Replacement of 50% Na+ in...

Acyl-CoA synthetase 4 (ACSL4) is implicated in fatty acid metabolism with marked preference for arachidonic acid (AA). ACSL4 plays crucial roles in physiological functions such as steroid synthesis and in pathological processes such as tumorigenesis. However, factors regulating ACSL4 mRNA and/or protein levels are not fully described. Because ACSL4 protein expression requires tyrosine phosphata...