Sex hormones including progesterons, androgens, and estrogens are influential in differentiation of ovarian tissues and competence of fertility. These steroid hormones derived from cholesterol are required for cumulus-oocyte complexes(COCs) during oocyte maturation. COCs is a total functional and active entity playing a central role in oocyte. Lipid metabolism in the mammalian COCs is controlled by environmental factors. The intracellular cholesterol contents go through remarkable changes. It plays an important part of oocyte developmental competence. However, heat stress affects steroid hormone by decreasing progesterone, estrogen concentrations, and resumption of meiosis in COCs maturation. Reduction of the hormone and meiotic resumption might lead to the decline of ovarian function, follicle maturation, and subsequent embryogenesis. In the same vein, heat stress also influence on germinal vesicle breakdown, lipolytic variations, and loss of the nuclear envelope in the course of maturation of oocytes. In summary, we examined the effects of thermal stress on oocyte maturation through steroid hormone contents of change identifying the molecular mechanisms of lipids metabolism. It may have the solution to further the therapy methods for disorders regarding sterility.

자가면역 췌장염 없이 발생하는 IgG4-SC는 임상 양상이나 영상 검사에서 간문부 담관암과 구별이 쉽지 않으며 치료 방법과 예후도 다르므로 불필요한 수술을 피하려면 감별진단이 중요하다. 저자들은 자가면역 췌장염 없이 담관 협착을 보여 간문부 담관암과 감별이 어려웠던 IgG4-SC 환자에서 혈청 IgG4 및 담관 조직내 IgG4 양성 형질 세포 침윤 여부 이외에도 약 2주 동안 스테로이드에 대한 치료 반응을 확인 후 확진 하였던 증례를 문헌고찰과 함께 보고한다.

The estrogen-mediated effect of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) is a highly critical factor for the clinical application of MSCs. However, the present study is conducted on MSCs derived from adult donors, which have different physiological status with steroid hormonal changes. Therefore, we explores the important role of 17β-estradiol (E2) in MSCs derived from female and male newborn piglets (NF- and NM-pBMSCs), which are non-sexually matured donors with steroid hormones. The results revealed that in vitro treatment of MSCs with E2 improved cell proliferation, but the rates varied according to the gender of the newborn donors. Following in vitro treatment of newborn MSCs with E2, mRNA levels of Oct3/4 and Sox2 increased in both genders of MSCs and they may be correlated with both estrogen receptor α (ERα) and ERβ in NF-pBMSCs, but NM-pBMSCs were only correlated with ERα. Moreover, E2-treated NF-pBMSCs decreased in β-galactosidase activity but no influence on NM-pBMSCs. In E2-mediated differentiation capacity, E2 induced an increase in the osteogenic and chondrogenic abilities of both pBMSCs, but adipogenic ability may increased only in NF-pBMSCs. These results demonstrate that E2 could affect both genders of newborn donor-derived MSCs, but the regulatory role of E2 varies depending on gender-dependent characteristics even though the original newborn donors had not been affected by functional steroid hormones.

In all mammalian species, progesterone is essential to both the preparation for, and maintenance of, pregnancy. The 20α-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (20α-HSD) enzyme predominantly converts progesterone into its biologically inactive form 20α-hydroxyprogesterone, thereby regulating its activity. Thus, to directly assess sexual maturation in the MediKinetics micropig®, we analyzed the concentration of the steroid hormones progesterone and estradiol during the estrous cycle.Our results show that the progesterone level exhibited by the analyzed micorpig® was low at the beginning of the estrous cycle, and then abruptly increased to 30.32±10.0 ng/mL and 46.37±11.0 ng/mL by days 9 and 11 of the cycle, respectively. It reached the highest level 55.87±3.5 ng/mL on day 13 of the estrous cycle, before decreasing to 46.58±13.1 ng/mL and 10.0±7.6 ng/mL by days 15 and 17 of the cycle, respectively. In contrast, the estradiol level was shown to be highest (27.13±11.2 ng/mL) at the initiation of the estrous cycle, after which point it decreased to 13.29±6.5 ng/mL and 10.94±5.9 ng/mL by days 4 and 5 of the estrous cycle, respectively. By day 17 of the estrous cycle, the estradiol level decreased to 4.13±7.6 ng/mL.We anticipate that these results will provide useful information to enable the study of human ovulation and reproductive physiology using the MediKinetics micoripig® as a model system. We recommend further investigation to elucidate the functional mechanisms underlying the regulation of sexual maturation in the MediKinetics micropig®.

황색육아종성 담낭염은 주변조직을 침투하는 특성으로 인해 담낭암과 감별이 어려우며 조직학적 확진을 위해 담낭 절제술을 시행해야 하는 경우가 많고, 주변조직과의 유착으 로 확대절제술이 필요한 경우가 상당수이다. 소변색 변화를 주소로 내원한 69세 여자환자가 전산화단층촬영 및 자기공 명영상에서 주변조직을 침윤하는 담낭종괴가 발견되었고, 최초에는 담낭암으로 판단하였으나, 조직검사 및 추적 전산 화단층촬영으로 양성 염증 질환의 가능성이 높을 것으로 판단, 스테로이드 치료 시행 후 호전되어 확진을 위해 담낭절 제술을 시행하였고 황색육아종성 담낭염을 진단하였다. 스테로이드 치료로 인해 간조직 침투가 호전되어 광범위 절제 술을 피할 수 있었던 증례로 이를 문헌고찰과 함께 보고하는 바이다.

The epididymis in the male reproductive tract is the site where spermatozoa produced from the testis become mature. The epididymis is divided into 4 different segments, initial segment and caput, corpus, and caudal epididymis, depending upon functional and morphological features. Aquaporins (Aqps) are water channel molecules, which are present in the epididymis and play a major role in removal of epididymal water, resulting in creation of microenvironment for sperm maturation and concentration of sperms. Nandrolone decanoate (ND) is a synthetic anabolic-androgenic steroid, which is used to treat clinical diseases and improve physical ability and appearance. Even though it is well determined that the ND causes the male infertility by affecting the testis, little is known the effect of the ND on the epididymis. The present study was focused to examine the effect of ND at different treatment doses and periods on expression of Aqp1 and Aqp9 genes in the epididymis of pubertal rats. Results showed that mRNA expression of Aqp1 and Aqp9 genes among the parts of the epididymis was differentially regulated by ND treatment doses. In addition, treatment periods of ND caused differential expression of Aqp1 and Aqp9 mRNAs among segments of the epididymis. Therefore, it is believed that male infertility induced by ND could be resulted not only from malfunction of the testis but also from aberrant gene expression of Aqp1 and Aqp9 in the epididymis.

The objective of this study is to investigate the changes in concentrations of blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and sex steroid hormones, such as estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone in Korean cattle (Hanwoo) with reproductive disorders and to examine the relationship between BUN and body condition score (BCS) in Hanwoo. The concentration of BUN was 16.2 mg/dl, 17.8 mg/dl, 15.1 mg/dl, 17.9 mg/dl, and 28.3mg/dl in pregnancy, repeat breeding, follicular cyst, luteal cyst, and ovarian atrophy, respectively. In Hanwoo with BCS , and , the concentration of BUN was 15.8 mg/dl, 17.0 mg/dl, and 17.6 mg/dl, respectively. Fluoroimmunoassay showed that serum estrogen and progesterone levels were decreased in reproductive disorders Hanwoo, such as ovarian atrophy, endometritis, and weak estrus. The testosterone level was significantly decreased in Hanwoo with reproductive disorders compared to that in pregnant Hanwoo ( vs 0.13 ng/ml, p<0.05). The progesterone and estrogen concentrations in follicular fluid obtained from ovary with follicular cyst were significantly higher (p<0.05) than those in normal follicle fluid. These results show that there is no relationship between BUN and BCS in Hanwoo, and the concentration of sex steroid hormone in serum and follicular fluid are changed in reproductive disorders Hanwoo.

Although many studies have focused on the biological and toxicological effects of phenol products, in particular, in reproductive tracts, the data about their effects in this estrogenic responsive tissue are much less clear. In addition, the in vitro and in vivo data concerning ED-adverse impacts in other endocrine organs, i.e. pituitary gland, are not understood well either. Thus, a further study is needed for providing a new insight into possible impacts of estrogenic EDs including phenol products in humans and wildlife. A combination of in vitro and in vivo system for examining EDs may bring better understanding into the regulatory mechanisms underlying EDs-induced events. In addition, this information may support for developing optimal screening methods of estrogenic EDs, in particular, phenol products.

Our previous research has identified granulin (grn) and p130 genes as sex steroidinducible genes in the rat hypothalamus, which might be involved in sexual differentiation of the brain. Phthalate esters that are used as plasticizers and also found at low levels in foods such as dairy products are often mentioned as suspected endocrine disrupters. The purpose of the present study is to elucidate whether perinatal exposure to dinbutyl phthalate (DBP), diisononyl phthalate (DINP) and di2ethylhexyl adipate (DEHA) affects hypothalamic sex steroidinducible genes. The present study assessed the effects of perinatal exposure to DBP, DINP and DEHA on sex steroid hormones levels and hypothalamic grn and p130 mRNA expressions at postnatal day (PND) 3 and 7. Pregnant rats were fed a soyfree diet containing 20, 200, 2,000 and 10,000 ppm of DBP, 40, 400, 4,000 and 20,000 ppm of DINP, or 480, 2,400 and 12,000 ppm of DEHA from gestational day (GD) 15 to GD 3 or 7. At PND 3 and 7, perinatal exposure to these chemicals did not substantially affect serum concentrations of testosterone and estradiol. At PND 3, the expression of grn mRNA levels in males was decreased by DEHA, and that of p130 was decreased by DBP, DINP and DEHA, though the effects were not dosedependent. At PND 7, the expression of grn gene in female pups was increased by higher doses of DBP and all the doses, except for 4,000 ppm, of DINP, while that in male pups decreased by 480 and 12,000 ppm of DEHA. Hypothalamic expression of p130 mRNA in males was increased by lower doses of DBP and all the doses of DINP, whereas that of females was decreased by 480 and 2,400 ppm of DEHA. These results suggest that these chemicals may affect the expression of grn and p130 genes by directly acting on the hypothalamus, thus leading to inappropriate expression of these genes.

Phenanthrene, one of Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with three aromatic rings, is a ubiquitous contaminant in the environment. Phenanthrene has been identified in ambient air, drinking water and sediment. We examined the effect of phenanthrene on steroi

본 연구는 미경산돈의 첫 발정과 종부시 품종에 따른 체중, 연령, 체장, 체고, 흉위, 등지방 두께, estradiol-l7β, cortisol 그리고 progesterone 농도에 미치는 영향을 조사하여 앞으로 돼지 번식능력 향상을 위한 기초자료를 제공하고자 실시하였다. 본 연구에 공시된 듀록, 랜드레이스, 요크셔 미경산돈은 충남축산위생 연구소 산하 축산시험장에서 2000년부터 2002년까지 생산한 자돈을 선발하고 육성하여 이용하였다 미경산돈의 첫 발정과 종부시 듀록종이 랜드레이스종이나 요크셔종 보다 체중이 더 무거웠고 연령이 많았으며, 흉위도 컸다. 첫 발정과 종부시 체장은 품종간에 차이가 없었고, 체고는 듀록종과 요크셔종이 랜드레이스종에 비하여 높았다. 첫 발정시 등지방 두께는 요크셔종, 듀록종 그리고 랜드레이스종 순으로 얇았으며, 첫 종부시에는 차이가 없었다. 미경산돈의 첫발정시 혈청 estradiol-l7β의 농도는 랜드레이스종이 45.0 pg/ml로 요크셔종의 27.4pg/ml 이나 듀록종의 21.8 pg/ml 보다 높았으나 첫 종부시에는 18.5-31.9 pg/ml로 품종간에 차이가 없었다. 혈청 cortisol의 농도는 첫 발정과 종부시 듀록종이 랜드레이스종이나 요크셔종에 비하여 높게 나타나 품종간에 차이를 나타내었다. 혈청 progesterone의 농도는 첫 발정과 종부시 품종간에 차이가 없었다.