Cortisol, the primary circulating corticosteroid in teleosts, is elevated during stress following activation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-interrenal (HPI) axis. Cortisol exerts genomic effects on target tissues in part by activating glucocorticoid receptors (GR). Despite a well-established negative feedback loop involved in plasma cortisol regulation, the role of GR in the functioning of the H...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Medical abortion was not officially approved in Taiwan until the end of 2001. We investigated the efficacy of combination mifepristone and misoprostol therapy for medical abortion (which has now been approved) in early pregnant Taiwanese women and whether the attitudes of women who received this treatment affected the clinical outcome of medical abortion. METHODS Eighty...

The abortifacient Mifepristone (RU486) has proven to be a safe, effective, acceptable option for millions of women seeking abortion during the first and second trimester of pregnancy although its precise mechanism of action is not well understood. The main objective of this study was to investigate the impact of low dose Mifepristone administration on placental Galectin-9 (Gal-9) expression, as...

We investigated the ability of mifepristone, an anti-progestin drug, to modulate the cytotoxic effect of cisplatin in two cervical cancer cell lines and in human xenograft cervical tumors. The effect of cisplatin alone or combined with mifepristone on cellular proliferation was studied with the XTT assay which use a tetrazolium dye {sodium3'-[1-(phenylamino-carbonyl)-3,4-tetrazolium],XTT}. Befo...

BACKGROUND Previous trials have shown the potential of 10 mg of mifepristone in emergency contraception. The aim of this trial was to investigate whether 10 mg of mifepristone has the same efficacy as 25 mg. METHODS This double-blind, randomized trial was carried out in 10 family planning institutes and hospitals in China. Women who met recruitment criteria and requested emergency contracepti...

OBJECTIVE To study the effect of mifepristone and levonorgestrel on ovarian function and endometrial development in doses effective as emergency contraception. METHODS Twelve fertile women were treated with either 10 mg of mifepristone as a single dose (n = 6) or two doses of 0.75 mg of levonorgestrel, 12 hours apart (n = 6) before and after ovulation. An endometrial biopsy performed during t...

BACKGROUND Medical treatment of ectopic pregnancies is common. To increase the efficacy of methotrexate, the association of mifepristone has been proposed. METHODS We performed a large prospective multicentre double-blind sequential randomized trial in order to compare the efficacy of methotrexate and mifepristone (600 mg given orally) versus methotrexate and placebo. RESULTS A total of 212...

Objective To investigate the role of mifepristone in regulating cytokines of maternofetal interface and serum of human early gestation Methods Thirty-five women with early pregnancy received mifepristone 50 mg orally on study d 1 and d 2, respectively, followed by undergoing artificial abortion to get decidua and villi on study d 3. Twenty-five women with early pregnancy without mifepristone ad...

Preclinical studies have shown that the anti-glucocorticoid drug mifepristone effectively inhibits HIV replication both in vitro and in vivo. However, the drug did not demonstrate anti-HIV activity in a previous phase I/II study when administered at the daily dose of 75-225 mg. The aim of this study was to assess whether mifepristone may exert antiretroviral activity or influence immunological ...

OBJECTIVE To compare efficacy, safety and tolerance of combination of mifepristone and misoprostol versus misoprostol-only in induction of late intrauterine fetal death (IUFD). MATERIALS AND METHODS This prospective study included a consecutive series of 52 women gravid up to fourth with IUFD after 28 weeks of gestation between January 2008 and June 2011. Women were divided into two groups. F...