This investigation was undertaken to assess the combined effects of protein restriction and ultrasonic energy exposure during pregnancy on the maternal and fetal mouse. Pregnant female mice were fed diets containing either 18% casein (control diet) or 6% casein (restricted protein diet) during gestation. All animals were subjected to the ultrasonic exposure procedure (actual: 2.5 W/cm2 spatial ...

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) has been associated with adverse pregnant outcomes, including fetal demise, intra-uterine growth restriction (IUGR), neural tube defects (NTDs) and preterm delivery in rodent animals. Previous studies demonstrated that melatonin protected against LPS-induced fetal demise, IUGR and preterm delivery. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of melatonin...

Valproic acid (VPA) is an antiepileptic drug used clinically. Because of its known teratogenic properties VPA is not recommended for women of child bearing age. The present study was designed to assess the effects of VPA on both fetal and maternal organs. Randomized groups of pregnant mice were treated as follows: Group 1 (n = 10) 500 mg/kg VPA/day on gestation days 8-11; Group 2 (n = 10) 600 m...

Cholesterol is essential for antenatal development. However, the transport of maternal cholesterol to the embryo has not been sufficiently studied, and that to the fetus is still controversial. To this end, a 1 mg dose of [3,4-(13)C(2)]cholesterol was injected daily into pregnant mice and the labeled cholesterol was measured by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. After venous injections from ...

Background: The study of specific genes expressed in the testis is important to understanding testis development and function. Spermatogenesis is an attractive model for the study of gene expression during germ cell differentiation. Spermatogenesis associated-19 (Spata-19) is a recently-identified important spermatogenesis-related gene specifically expressed in testis. Its protein product is in...

nicotine is one the chemical substance with high level of toxically. it crosses the placenta and accumulates in the developing organs of fetus. our previous investigations indicated that collagen type iv plays a key role in basement membrane of various embryonic organs. in this study we evaluated the effect of maternal nicotine exposure pre and postnatal period on collagen iv expression during ...

In rodents and swine, individual differences in a broad range of characteristics correlate with intrauterine position during fetal life. By identifying the intrauterine position of mice at cesarean delivery, we can predict reliably postnatal reproductive traits such as genital morphology, timing of puberty, length of estrous cycles, timing of reproductive senescence, sexual attractiveness, sexu...

Phenobarbital is a phenobarbiturate used as a sedative, anticonvulsant or hypnotic with the doses prescribed and can cause teratogenic effects. The goal of this study was to examine an alternative method for the recognition of the mechanism or the bimolecular potential changes in mice fetus caused by Phenobarbital using FTIR micro spectroscopy. The mice were injected with Phenobarbital (120 mg/...