Infertility affects 13-18% of couples and growing evidence from clinical and epidemiological studies suggests an increasing incidence of male reproductive problems. There is a male factor involved in up to half of all infertile couples. The pathogenesis of male infertility can be reflected by defective spermatogenesis due to failure in germ cell proliferation and differentiation. We report here in vitro generation of a germ cell line (SSC1) from the pluripotent teratocarcinoma cells by a novel promoter-based sequential selection strategy and show that the SSC1 cell line form mature seminiferous tubule structures, and support spermatogenesis after transplantation into recipient testes. To select differentiated germ cell population, we generated a fusion construct (Stra8-EGFP) harbouring the 1.4 kb promoter region of germ line specific gene Stra8 and coding region of enhanced green fluorescence protein. This region was sufficient to direct gene expression to the germinal stem cells in testis of transgenic mice. The purified cells expressed the known molecular markers of spermatogonia Rbm, cyclin A2, Tex18, Stra8 and Dazl and the beta1- and alpha6-integrins characteristic of the stem cell fraction. This cell line undergoes meiosis and can develop into sperm when transplanted into germ cell depleted testicular tubules. Sperm were viable and functional, as shown by fertilization after intra-cytoplasmic injection into mouse oocytes. This approach provides the basis that is essential for studying the development and differentiation of male germ line stem cell, as well as for developing new approaches to reproductive engineering and infertility treatment.

Hyaluronic acid is considered to be nonimmunogenic. Frequently, it is used for the correction of facial lines. It is believed that hyaluronic acid injection fillers are safe and have no occurrence of serious adverse reactions or allergic reactions. Nevertheless, recent publications have documented the rate of intermittent swelling and severe granulomatous allergic reactions that evolved into abscesses. A clinical case of a 54-year-old patient is presented. After injection of hyaluronic acid in the treatment of nasolabial folds elsewhere, she developed palpable painful erythematous nodules evolving into abscesses several month after injection. Surgical treatment and correction of these lesions after hyaluronic acid injection of the nasolabial folds and the histological findings of these erythematous nodules are described. Histological and clinical examination documented intermittent swelling and severe granulomatous allergic reactions that may render the use of hyaluronic acid unacceptable. Patients should be informed of the potential complications when treating facial lines with hyaluronic acid gel.

Mutations in either the Drosophila melanogaster pelota or pelo gene or the Saccharomyces cerevisiae homologous gene, DOM34, cause defects of spermatogenesis and oogenesis in Drosophila, and delay of growth and failure of sporulation in yeast. These phenotypes suggest that pelota is required for normal progression of the mitotic and meiotic cell cycle. To determine the role of the pelota in mouse development and progression of cell cycle, we have established a targeted disruption of the mouse Pelo. Heterozygous animals are variable and fertile. Genotyping of the progeny of heterozygous intercrosses shows the absence of Pelo ؊/؊ pups and suggests an embryo-lethal phenotype. Histological analyses reveal that the homozygous Pelo deficient embryos fail to develop past day 7.5 of embryogenesis (E7.5). The failure of mitotic active inner cell mass of the Pelo ؊/؊ blastocysts to expand in growth after 4 days in culture and the survival of mitotic inactive trophoplast indicate that the lethality of Pelo-null embryos is due to defects in cell proliferation. Analysis of the cellular DNA content reveals the significant increase of aneuploid cells in Pelo ؊/؊ embryos at E7.5. Therefore, the percent increase of aneuploid cells at E7.5 may be directly responsible for the arrested development and suggests that Pelo is required for the maintenance of genomic stability.The Pelo gene was originally identified in a mutagenesis screen for spermatogenesis-specific genes of Drosophila melanogaster (7). Spermatogenesis in pelo mutants progresses normally during the four mitotic divisions, and the 16 spermatocytes undergo a premeiotic S-phase and duplicate their DNA content. However, spermatocytes in the mutant arrested prior to full chromosome condensation, spindle pole organization, and nuclear breakdown. Metaphase and anaphase figures of the meiotic divisions, which are clearly recognized in squashed preparations of wild-type testis, were not observed in testis of the pelo mutant. Although meiotic division arrests in pelo spermatocytes, germ cell differentiation continues, resulting in 4N spermatids with head and tail structures. These results indicate that the Pelo is required for the meiotic division during the G 2 /M transition (10). Beside the effect of the mutation on spermatogenesis, the eyes of the pelo homozygotes are up to 30% smaller than those of wild-type siblings, and the ovaries in mutants are very small. In contrast to the arrest in meiotic divisions in male germ cells, during oogenesis the mitotic divisions are affected. The mitotic zone of ovaries appears disorganized and often contains degenerating cells. Despite the apparent phenotype observed in the gametogenesis of Drosophila mutant, the pelo transcripts are not restricted to germ cells but also detected in early embryonic development.Analysis of mitotic and meiotic division in the dom34 mutant of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which has a mutation in the pelota orthologous gene, reveals that the dom34 mutant exhibits a growth delay and fails to undergo sporulation pr...

The objective of this study was to evaluate the prognostic value of contrast-enhanced MR mammography in patients with breast cancer. A total of 190 patients with breast cancer (37 noninvasive carcinomas, 153 invasive carcinomas) underwent dynamic contrast-enhanced MR mammography preoperatively. Using 1.5-T unit, T1-weighted sequences (2D FLASH) were obtained repeatedly one time before and five times after IV administration of 0.1 mmol gadopentetate-dimeglumine per kilogram body weight. The findings on MR imaging were correlated with histopathologically defined prognostic factors (histological type, tumor size, tumor grading, metastasis in lymph nodes). In addition, immunohistochemically defined prognostic factors (c-erbB-1, c-erbB-2, p53, Ki-67) were correlated with the signal increase on MR mammogram in 40 patients. There was no significant correlation between the findings on MR mammography and the histopathological type of carcinoma, the grading, and the lymphonodular status. Noninvasive carcinomas showed a higher rate of moderate (38 %) or low (27 %) enhancement on MR imaging than invasive carcinomas (6 and 3 %). The results on MR mammography and the results of immunohistochemical stainings did not correlate significantly. Noninvasive carcinomas showed significantly lower enhancement than invasive carcinomas. However, the signal behavior of contrast-enhanced MR mammography is not related to established histopathological prognostic parameters as subtyping, grading, nodal status, and the expression of certain oncogenes/tumor suppressor genes.

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