American journal of reproductive immunology : AJRI
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Am. J. Reprod. Immunol. · Jun 2013
Demystifying animal models of adverse pregnancy outcomes: touching bench and bedside.
This represents an overview of the use of animal models to study the adverse pregnancy outcomes seen in humans. The purpose is to entice clinicians to utilize some of this information to seek out the literature and have more meaningful and profitable discussions with their academic colleagues and enhance transdisciplinary research in reproductive health.
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Am. J. Reprod. Immunol. · Feb 2012
Circulating cell-derived microparticles in severe preeclampsia and in fetal growth restriction.
The behavior of the circulating microparticles (cMP) in severe preeclampsia (PE) and fetal growth restriction (FGR) is disputed. METHOD OF STUDY Non-matched case-control study. Seventy cases of severe PE/HELLP/FGR were compared to 38 healthy pregnant women. Twenty healthy non-pregnant women acted as a control. cMP were analyzed using flow cytometry. Results are given as total (annexin-A5-ANXA5+), platelet (CD41+), leukocyte (CD45+), endothelial (CD144+CD31+//CD41-), and CD41-negative cMP/μL of plasma. Antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) were analyzed through usual methods. ⋯ Normal pregnancy is accompanied by endothelial and platelet cell activation. Endothelial cell activation has been shown in PE but not in isolated FGR. In PE, aPL may contribute to endothelial and possibly to leukocyte cell activation.
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Am. J. Reprod. Immunol. · Feb 2012
The Treg/Th17 imbalance in Toxoplasma gondii-infected pregnant mice.
To evaluate whether impaired Treg/Th17 balance exists in the pregnant mice infected with Toxoplasma gondii. ⋯ TheTreg/Th17 imbalance exists in the pregnant mice infected with T. gondii, which is associated with the expression of related cytokine and key transcription factors. This result suggests that the embryo loss caused by this parasite may be associated with a reduced ratio of Treg to Th17 cell number.
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Am. J. Reprod. Immunol. · Nov 2011
First trimester pregnancy decidual natural killer cells contain and spontaneously release high quantities of granulysin.
Granulysin (GNLY) is a novel cytolytic protein lytic against a variety of tumor cells and microbes. The role of GNLY during pregnancy has not been extensively explored. The aim of this study is to examine GNLY expression and distribution in the first trimester pregnancy peripheral blood (PB) and decidua, the ability of decidual and PB natural killer (NK) cells to secrete GNLY spontaneously, and the role of antigen-presenting cells (APC) in the regulation of GNLY expression in decidual NK cells. ⋯ Abundant expression of GNLY in the decidual immunocompetent cells and the capacity of decidual CD56(+) cells to spontaneously secrete high quantities of GNLY point to important protective and immunomodulatory role that this molecule could play at the maternal-fetal interface.
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Am. J. Reprod. Immunol. · Aug 2010
Case ReportsMaternal death following cardiopulmonary collapse after delivery: amniotic fluid embolism or septic shock due to intrauterine infection?
The amniotic fluid embolism (AFE) syndrome is a catastrophic complication of pregnancy frequently associated with maternal death. The causes and mechanisms of disease responsible for this syndrome remain elusive. ⋯ We propose that subclinical intraamniotic infection may be a cause of postpartum cardiovascular collapse and DIC and resemble AFE. Thus, some patients with the clinical diagnosis of AFE may have infection/systemic inflammation as a mechanism of disease. These observations have implications for the understanding of the mechanisms of disease of patients who develop cardiovascular collapse and DIC, frequently attributed to AFE. It may be possible to identify a subset of patients who have biochemical and immunological evidence of systemic inflammation at the time of admission, and before a catastrophic event occurs.