BACKGROUND Rodent studies suggest that the peptide hormone insulin-like factor 3 (Insl3) made by the fetal testis is responsible for the first transabdominal phase of testicular descent, and may be affected by xenobiotics to disrupt male reproductive tract development. To date, there is very little information on the production of INSL3 by the human fetus during gestation. The objective of the ...

BACKGROUND There is evidence to suggest that human papillomavirus (HPV) can cross the placenta resulting in in-utero transmission. The goal of this study was to determine if HPV can be detected in amniotic fluid from women with intact amniotic membranes. METHODS Residual amniotic fluid and cultured cell pellets from amniocentesis performed for prenatal diagnosis were used. PGMY09/11 L1 consen...

Human amniotic fluid has been used in prenatal diagnosis for more than 70 years. It has proven to be a safe, reliable, and simple screening tool for a wide variety of developmental and genetic diseases. However, there is now evidence that amniotic fluid may have more use than only as a diagnostic tool and may be the source of a powerful therapy for a multitude of congenital and adult disorders....

BACKGROUND Adhesion is a common complication of gynecology surgery so different barrier agents and solutions have been used during these operations to separate and protect tissues from adhesion after surgery. Adept is one of these solutions that have been postulated to reduce the chance of adhesion following gynecolgy surgery. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect of 4% icodextrin in reducing adhe...

In addition to the placenta, umbilical cord and amniotic fluid, the amniotic membrane is emerging as an immensely valuable and easily accessible source of stem and progenitor cells. This concise review will focus on the stem/progenitor cell properties of human amniotic epithelial and mesenchymal stromal cells and evaluate the effects exerted by these cells and the amniotic membrane on tissue in...

BACKGROUND The aims of this study were to evaluate the efficacy of current techniques for isolating mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from amniotic fluid obtained by second-trimester amniocentesis as well as to determine their differentiation potential. METHODS We collected 50 samples of amniotic fluid by second-trimester amniocentesis. To obtain MSCs from amniotic fluid, the fluid was cultured u...

S TITLES 1. Variations of Protein Levels in Human Amniotic Fluid Stem Cells CD117/2 Over Passages 5-25. Chen WQ, Siegel N, Li L, Pollak A, Hengstschlager M, Lubec G. J Proteome Res. 2009 Sep 30. 2. A microfluidic device for separation of amniotic fluid mesenchymal stem cells utilizing louver-array structures. Wu HW, Lin XZ, Hwang SM, Lee GB. Biomed Microdevices. 2009 Sep 3. 3. In vitro and in v...

Kisspeptin is the product of the KISS1 (KiSS-1 metastasissuppressor) gene and is the ligand for the G-protein– coupled receptor, now known as the KISS1 receptor (KISS1R) (1 ). Both kisspeptin and KISS1R play a crucial role in the regulation of reproduction and puberty (1 ). The KISS1 gene encodes a precursor peptide of 145 amino acid residues, which undergoes proteolytic processing to generate ...