Endocrine Abstracts

Surprisingly, up to 50% of cases of infertility among couples worldwide are male-related. But despite this alarming prevalence of male infertility, most studies continue to focus on analysis of infertility from female perspective. Curcumin (CUM), a food additive with international numbering code E100 has been shown to exhibit therapeutic potential against some illnesses (cancer, diabetes, testicular damage) in which free radicals plays a crucial role (Aggarwal and Harikumar 20...

The leaves and seeds of Buchholzia coriacea (BC) are known to have antimalarial effect. Many antibiotic and antimalarial agents are known to have antifertility actions. This study was designed to investigate the effect of the aqueous seed extract of buccholzia coriacea on fertility parameters in female rats. Forty regularly cycling rats were randomly divided into two equal groups: BC-treated group (BCT group) received aqueous extract of the seed (200 mg/kg) and the co...

Minerals and micronutrients deficiency have been reported to impair reproductive function. We investigated the influence of low salt diet and high salt diet on implantation and pregnancy in Sprague-Dawley rats. One hundred and forty-four rats were acclimatized and divided into three groups consisting of control/normal salt diet (0.3% salt), low salt diet (0.14% salt) and high salt diet (8% salt). All the rats were fed with respective diets for 6 weeks. The oestrous cycle was t...

Low birth weight has been reported in the offspring of rats fed with low salt diet. This study estimated the levels of maternal growth factors of pregnant rats fed with low salt and high salt diet. Seventy-two female Sprague–Dawley rats were acclimatized and divided into three groups consisting of control/normal salt diet (0.3% salt), low salt diet (0.14% salt) and high salt diet (8% salt). Rats were fed for six weeks and the cycles of the rats were observed in the 6th we...

Developmental programming of insulin resistance in the offspring of diabetic mothers have contributed significantly to the increased prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus and other metabolic disorders in the general population. Vitamin D has been reported to improve glucose metabolism, however its potential in reversing glucose intolerance programmed in the offspring of diabetic mothers has not been fully elucidated. The study therefore aimed to investigate the effect of vita...

Foetal exposure to a diabetic intra-uterine environment is known to impair metabolic processes with long term consequences, a phenomenon termed foetal programming. However, the mechanisms involved has not been completely understood. Fructose feeding has been used to induce type 2 diabetes in animal models. This study aims to investigate if stress mechanism is involved in the foetal programming of diabetic pregnancies. Twenty-four female rats were randomly divided into two grou...

Maternal diabetes is known to impair placental function; however, its effect on placental expression of progesterone and oestrogen receptors has not been well documented. Fructose has been used to induce insulin resistance in animal models (Suga et al., 2000). The study aimed to assess maternal serum levels of progesterone, oestriol, oestradiol; placental morphology and its expression of progesterone and oestrogens receptors in fructose-induced diabetic rats. Twelve f...

Maternal diabetes is known to impair placental function; however, its effect on placental expression of progesterone and oestrogen receptors has not been well documented. Fructose feeding has been used to induce insulin resistance in animal models (Suga et al., 2000; Arikawe et al., 2004; Iranloye et al., 2011). The study aimed to assess maternal serum levels of progesterone, oestriol and oestradiol; placental morphology and its expression of progest...

Maternal stress is commonly cited as a potential cause for idiopathic pregnancy loss (Knackstedt et al., 2005). However, the mechanisms through which stress affects implantation and pregnancy are yet to be totally deciphered. This study was designed to determine the effect of predator-induced psychosocial stress on implantation and pregnancy in rat. Cycling rats (n=48) at proestrus phase were paired overnight with sexually experienced male in ratio 2:1. Following conf...

Metabolic syndrome is a clustering of several cardiovascular risk factors including obesity, hypertension, diabetes, high triglyceride etc. Obesity has been shown to decreases key markers of uterine contractility during parturition in the rat and diabetes is associated with impairment of uterine contractility and high caesarean section rate. In this study, the effect of metabolic syndrome on gravid uterine muscle contractility in sprague-dawley rat was deter...