Journal of Reproduction & Infertility
Volume:10 Issue: 3, 2009

This article compares the prevalence of primary infertility in Iran estimates provided by different studies. No other study had provided a review about the researches related to epidemiology of infertility in the country. A literature review was undertaken using the scientific resources on the internet and the list of national projects obtained from Deputy of Research and Technology, of Iran Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MOH & ME) and relevant research centers. These resources were attentively reviewed to find about national studies on the epidemiology of primary infertility in Iran during the last decade. Based on their design quality, the National Infertility Study (NIS) (2004-2005), National Health Survey (NHS) (2001) and Tehran Study (1997) were considered for the research. Current primary infertility estimated by National Health Survey (NHS) was 2.8% and by National Infertility Survey (NIS) 3.4%. Tehran study and NIS estimated the prevalence of lifetime primary infertility to be 21.9% and 24.9%, respectively. The minimum prevalence of lifetime primary infertility was found to be 15.8% for the marriage age of 19-27 by Tehran study and 17.2% for the marriage age of 21-26 by NIS. On the average, 21-22% of women experience primary infertility during their marital life. The best age of marriage for women in Iran seems to be 20-27 years. At this age group, the lowest number of women (16-18%) would experience primary infertility.

Production of antibodies against specific proteins of testis germ cells is of great significance for the investigation of processes involved in spermatogenesis, study of infertility problems and determination of the probable role of these proteins as cancer-testis antigens. Murine Testis Specific Recombinant Protein 101 (mTEX101) is a 38kDa, GPI-anchored protein which is expressed in testis germ cells of adult mice but it seems to be absent in other tissues. The structure and function of mTEX101 is not completely understood yet, but it is speculated that it may transduce biochemical signals into the cytoplasm since mTEX101 does not have an intracellular domain but the precise mechanisms are still ambiguous. RNA was extracted from three adult mice testis. The RNA was used in RT-PCR, employing a pair of specific primers for mTEX101 ORF region. TA-cloning technique was performed by the insertion of mTEX101 into a pGEM-T Easy Vector, followed by its subcloning into a His-tagged expression vector, pET-28a (). The recombinant mTEX101 was then produced by transfection of the expression vector into BL 21 (DE3) E. coli strain. A recombinant protein, weighing 27kDa, was produced upon IPTG-induction of the bacterial host. The presence of mTEX101 protein was detected through Western blot analysis by anti-mTEX101 peptide antibodies. We produced mTEX101 recombinant protein that could be used for the production of mono and polyclonal antibodies.

Pregnancy and parenting have been part of human life throughout history and liver transplant recipients are not any exception. This paper reports successful pregnancies in two liver transplant recipients in Iran. The first case was a 34-year old woman who had undergone orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) at Shiraz Namazi Educational Hospital in 2002. She decided to get pregnant seven years after the operation. During pregnancy, immunosuppressive therapy continued, except Mycophenolate Mofetil which has an absolute contra-indication in pregnancy. The patient was followed up during pregnancy by the transplant team as well as a gynecologist. She faced no significant complications and the liver function was stable during pregnancy. She later underwent a Cesarean section in the 38th week of gestation and the newborn was a healthy girl weighing 2480g with an Apgar score of 8 at the time of birth. There were no evidences of prematurity or structural abnormalities in the newborn. The second case was a 31-year old primipara who had received an orthotopic liver transplant (OLT) in Shiraz in 2002. She had a smooth pregnancy without any complications and the newborn was a boy weighing 3100g with Apgar scores of 8 and 10 at the time of birth and 5 minutes thereafter, respectively. As the number of transplant recipients is growing along with the number of recipients who are in their fertility years, it is vital to ensure a proper medical care by a coordinated multidisciplinary team during pregnancy.

The increased prevalence of upper normal limit of TSH and raised anti-thyroperoxidase antibody titer indicate, relatively more frequent occurrence of compensated thyroid function in infertile women. This finding necessitates considering such cases for a thorough investigation of pituitary-thyroid axis. In addition, as some patients may exhibit the clinical picture of hypothyroidism despite normal TSH and free thyroxin (FT4) concentrations, this hospital-based study was undertaken to review the impact of thyroid status on the menstrual function and fertility of the subjects. In this study, we investigated 160 women with primary infertility who attended the Biochemistry department, Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC), New Delhi for hormonal evaluations. Eighty fertile women with similar age and socioeconomic status were enrolled as the controls. The association between thyroid dysfunction and levels of serum prolactin, LH and FSH as their menstrual status were reviewed. The majority of the infertile and fertile women were euthyroid. In infertile group, the crude prevalence of hypothyroidism was slightly higher in the infertile group in comparison with that of the general population. There was a positive correlation between serum TSH and prolactin levels in the infertile subjects. Menstrual disorders (mainly oligomenorrhea), were reported by about 60% of the infertile women. Hyperprolactinemia was depicted in 41% of the infertile women while it was only 15% in the control group. The infertile women with hypothyroidism had significantly higher prolactin levels when compared to the subjects with hyper- or euthyroidism. There was a significant association between abnormal menstrual patterns and anovulatory cycles, as observed on endometrial examination of infertile subjects with raised serum prolactin levels. There is a greater propensity for thyroid disorder in infertile women than the fertile ones. There is also a higher prevalence of hyperprolactinemia in infertile patients.

The cells expressing Indoleamine 2, 3-dioxygenase (IDO) in feto-maternal interface mediate tryptophan catabolism, hence protect allogeneic fetus from lethal rejection by maternal immune responses. In this study, we report immuno-localization of IDO cells in murine reproductive tract and placenta throughout mouse pregnancy by immunohistochemistry. Syngeneic pregnant mice were examined for vaginal plug to discover about their state of pregnancy. A total of three pregnant mice were examined at each stage.The examination was further confirmed by the detection of sperm in vaginal smear. On the gestational days of 2nd, 12th and 18th, the uterus and oviduct were removed and expression of IDO was investigated in the endometrium, placenta and oviduct by immunohistochemistry. Our results showed that IDO is expressed consistently in feto-maternal interface throughout pregnancy. In endometrium, expression of IDO was predomin-antly confined to luminal and glandular epithelial cells. Cells at junctional and labyrinth zones of placenta showed strong IDO immunoreactivity as well. Expression of IDO at the protein level in reproductive tract of pregnant mice during entire periods of gestation points to its potential protective role in maintenance of pregnancy. In our knowledge this is the first report of expression of IDO in feto-maternal phase during murine pregnancy.

In mammalian system, spermatozoa are not able to fertilize the oocyte immediately upon ejaculation, thus they undergo a series of biochemical and molecular changes which is termed capacitation. During sperm capacitation, signal transduction pathways are activated which lead to protein tyrosine phosphorylation. Tyrosine phosphorylated proteins have an important role in sperm capacitation such as hyperactive motility, interaction with zona pellucida and acrosome reaction. Evaluation of tyrosine phosphorylation pattern is important for further understanding of molecular mechanisms of fertilization and the etiology of sperm dysfunctions and abnormalities such as teratospermia. The goal of this study is to characterize tyrosine phosphorylation pattern in sperm proteins isolated from normospermic and teratospermic infertile men attending Avicenna Infertility Clinic in Tehran. Semen samples were collected and the spermatozoa were isolated using Percoll gradient centrifugation. Then the spermatozoa were incubated up to 6h at 37C with 5% CO2 in 3% Bovine Serum Albumin-supplemented Ham’s F-10 for capacitation to take place. The total proteins from spermatozoa were extracted and were subjected to SDS-PAGE before and after capacitation. To evaluate protein tyrosine phosphorylation pattern, western blotting with specific antibody against phosphorylated tyrosines was performed. The results upon western blotting showed: 1) at least six protein bands were detected before capacitation in the spermatozoa from normospermic samples. However, comparable levels of tyrosine phosphorylation was not observed in the spermatozoa from teratospermic samples. 2) The intensity of protein tyrosine phosphorylation appears to have been increased during capacitation in the normospermic relative to the teratospermic group. For the first time, these findings demonstrate and suggest that the differences in the types of proteins and diminished tyrosine phosphorylation efficiency in sperm from teratospermic men may be responsible for their compromised capacitation and low fertilization success rates.

PERF15 is a testicular germ-cell specific fatty-acid binding protein (FABP) isolated from mammals, originally from rats. It encodes one of the most abundant proteins of rat spermatozoa localized in the perinuclear theca. Northern blot analysis has demonstrated that rat PERF15 mRNA is exclusively transcribed during meiosis and post-meiosis. In this study, we cloned and sequenced human PERF15 gene. According to the open reading frame of automated computational analysis of Homo sapiens similar to testis fatty acid binding protein nine, two specific Primers were designed to amplify human PERF15 gene. To confirm the identity of the amplified gene, PCR products of PERF15 were cloned into appropriate plasmid vectors followed by sequencing of the inserts. A unique band of ~3kb was obtained after PCR amplification. Restriction enzyme digestion using PvuII confirmed that the fragment was related to PERF15. Gene alignment, direct sequencing and application of specific primers to the gene showed 100% similarity between this gene and the computational data by gel extraction of the ~3 kb band. The human PERF15 gene contained four exons and three introns. Exons one, two, three and four, respectively, coded for 24, 57, 34 and 17 amino acids. The existing three introns were composed of 2113, 461, and 168 nucleotides. In spite of the homology between exonic regions and exon-intron boundaries of human PERF15 gene and that of animals, human PERF15 gene is different in size and sequence from corresponding introns in rat and murine PERF15.