This is the first trial to show beneficial effects of a 10-mg natural S-(-)equol supplement consumed daily for 12 weeks on major menopausal symptoms, specifically, hot flushes and neck or shoulder muscle stiffness, in postmenopausal Japanese women. This supplement offers a promising alternative for management of menopausal symptoms.
Specific binding sites for endothelin-1 (ET-1), a novel potent vasoconstrictor peptide, as well as the effects of ET-1 on cytosolic free Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i), intracellular total inositol phosphate (IP) generation and steroidogenesis were studied in cultured porcine granulosa cells. Scatchard analysis of a binding study using 125I-labelled ET-1 indicated the presence of a single class of high-affinity binding sites with almost equal affinity for ET-1 and ET-3: the apparent dissociation constant was 0.59 nmol/l and the maximal binding capacity was 1.84 pmol/mg protein. Affinity-labelling of 125I-labelled ET-1 to the membranes using disuccinimidyl tartarate as a cross-linker revealed one major and one minor band with the apparent molecular weights of 32 kDa and 49 kDa respectively. ET-1 dose-dependently (1-100 nmol/l) induced rapid and transient increases in [Ca2+]i in fura-2-labelled cells. ET-1 also dose-dependently stimulated total IPs in cells prelabelled with myo-[3H]inositol. ET-1 had a slight stimulatory effect on the secretion of progesterone but not of oestradiol from porcine granulosa cells. The present data clearly demonstrate the presence of a non-selective ET receptor (ETB) in porcine granulosa cells coupled with phosphoinositide hydrolysis and [Ca2+]i mobilization, and suggest that ET-1 may play some role in the production of progesterone by porcine granulosa cells.
UWT can serve as a potential predictive factor for 4-week SP and may help physicians to select patients who require immediate interventions among those with ≤ 10-mm ureteral stones.
We studied whether a novel vasoconstrictor, endothelin-1 (ET-1), is synthesized by and released from porcine granulosa cells, and whether ET-1 acts directly on granulosa cells in an autocrine/paracrine fashion. The dilution curve of the conditioned medium from cultured porcine granulosa cells was parallel to a standard curve of ET-1 in RIA. Reverse-phase HPLC of the conditioned media from the granulosa cells revealed a major peak of ET-1-like immunoreactivity (ET-1-LI) coeluting with standard ET-1. ET-1-LI was released from cultured porcine granulosa cells as a function of time. Northern blot analysis demonstrated the expression of mRNA for prepro-ET-1 in the granulosa cells. We demonstrated the presence of ET-1 in the follicular fluid of porcine ovaries, and that the concentration of ET-1 in large follicles was higher than that in small-medium follicles. ET-1 dose-dependently stimulated cell growth and DNA synthesis in porcine granulosa cells. ET-1 inhibited the FSH- and hCG stimulated accumulation of progesterone in porcine granulosa cells in long-term incubation. These findings suggest that ET-1 produced by porcine granulosa cells may function as an autocrine/paracrine growth factor and modulator of steroidogenesis in ovarian granulosa cells.
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