Transport of anti-sperm monoclonal IGA and IGC into murine male and female genital tracts from blood - Effect of sex hormones

Ab levels in the genital tract may be important in fertility and in preventing sexually transmitted diseases, In this study, I-125-labeled polymer or monomer mAb IgA (C4pIgA or C4mIgA) and IgC2b (C4IgC) to murine lactate dehydrogenase C4 and a polymer mAb IgA (npIgA) not cross-reacting with mouse sperm were intravenously injected into BALB/c mice, and the relative distribution of these Abs was determined. Polymer IgA was transported much more efficiently into the genital tract, trachea, and duodenum of both sexes than C4IgG and C4 mIgA (p < 0.01), The transport of polymer IgA (C4pIgA and npIgA) into the male genital tract greatly increased following orchiectomy (p < 0.01); this change was not affected by testosterone, suggesting that the unknown regulatory factor(s) from the testis may suppress polymer IgA transport, However, the transport of polymer IgA into female genital tissues was significantly decreased by ovariectomy (p < 0.01); this decline can be rectified by P-estradiol but not progesterone treatment, suggesting that estradiol may stimulate polymer IgA transport, Furthermore, the transport of C4IgG into tissues of the Fallopian tubes and the uterus was significantly decreased by treatment with progesterone (p < 0.01). Together, these findings indicate that serum polymer IgA can be transported selectively into the genital tracts of both sexes, that this transport is strongly under the control of gonads, and that transport of Ige into the Fallopian tubes and uterus is downregulated by progesterone.

Circulating immunoglobulin A- and immunoglobulin G-secreting hybridoma cells in peripheral blood preferably migrate to female genital tracts. The role of sex hormones

Antigen-specific circulating immunoglobulin-secreting cells (ISC) migrate to various secondary and tertiary lymphoid tissues. To understand the migration of the cells into the genital tract and its regulation by sex hormones, spleen-derived SG2 hybridoma cells secreting immunoglobulin G2b (IgG2b) and Peyer's patch-derived PA4 hybridoma cells secreting polymer IgA were labelled with (3) H-TdR, and intravenously injected into syngeneic mice of both sexes. Using flow cytometry, surface molecular markers of plasma cells, CD38 and CD138, and adhesion molecules, CD49d, CD162, and CD11a were found to be positive in SG2 and PA4 cells, but CD62L, alpha4beta7 and CD44 were not expressed on these cells. The relative distribution indexes (RDIs) of the cells in genital tract and other tissues were measured. The means of RDIs of SG2 and PA4 cells in female genital tissues were 6.5 and 4.5 times as many as the means in male genital tissues, respectively. The treatment of ovariectomized mice with beta-oestradiol significantly increased the RDIs of PA4 cells in cervix and vagina, but decreased the RDIs of SG2 cells in vagina, horn of uterus, uterus and rectum (P <0.05). Progesterone treatment increased the RDIs of PA4 cells in vagina and rectum (P <0.05). The treatment with testosterone significantly increased the RDIs of SG2 and PA4 cells in epididymis and accessory sex glands (P <0.05). These results demonstrate that the female genital tract is the preferable site for the migration of circulating hybridoma cells to the male genital tract, and sex hormones play an important role in regulation of the migration of circulating ISC to genital tracts.

Migration of mouse antibody-secreting hybridoma cells from blood to genital tract and its regulation by sex hormones are associated with the differential expression patterns of adhesion molecules and chemokines in the tract rather than in the antibody-secreting cells

To understand better the molecular mechanisms of differential migration of antibody-secreting cells (ASCs) into mouse genital tracts, and regulation by sex hormones, surface markers, hormone receptors and adhesion molecules in mouse SG2 and PA4 hybridoma cells, respectively, secreting IgG2b and polymeric IgA antibody were detected by flow cytometry or RT-PCR. Semiquantitative RT-PCR was also used for measuring mRNA expression of adhesion molecules and chemokines (VCAM-1, ICAM-1, P-selectin, JAM-1 and CXCL12) in genital tracts of various adult mouse groups. The mRNAs of androgen receptor, estrogen receptor beta and CXCR4 were expressed in the ASCs. Sex hormones had no effect on expression of these molecules in ASCs. Except for VCAM-1, mRNA of all examined genes was expressed in normal mouse genital tracts. The mean of relative amounts of ICAM-1 and CXCL12 mRNA in all examined organs of females were higher (2.1- and 1.9-fold) than those in males. After orchiectomy or ovariectomy, the expression of ICAM-1, CXCL12 and P-selectin mRNA in the examined organs increased, except JAM-1 in male and CXCL12 in female. Sex hormone treatment recovered the changes to normal levels of mRNA expression in many examined genital tissues. In combination with our previous work, preferential migration of ASCs into female genital tract and regulation of migration by sex hormones are associated with expression patterns of adhesion molecules and chemokines in genital tract rather than in ASCs. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

雄性生殖道局部免疫

：雄性生殖道局部免疫在性传播疾病的防治、免疫不育的防治和免疫避孕方面都具有十分重要的作用。本文 结合作者的研究工作，介绍了雄性泌尿生殖道的结构特征、天然和获得性的抗感染因子、抗精子免疫反应、性激素 对雄性生殖道免疫力的调控作用以及雄性生殖道的获得性免疫应答的激活等方面的研究动态，提出了今后的研究 方向，认为除了深入研究获得性免疫之外，雄性生殖道内天然免疫力的研究，应是十分值得关注的新方向。 39600016) ,云南省应用基础基金(96C097Q ,97C092M) 等资助。

Effects of testosterone undecanoate as a male contraceptive candidate on rat immunological features

Testosterone undecanoate (TU) is under phase III clinical trial as a hormonal male contraceptive in China. Sex hormones can modulate the immune system. Female hormonal contraceptives may affect SIV/HIV-1 transmission. To evaluate the safety of TU and to understand whether long-term use of TU for a male contraceptive affects users' immunological features, adult male rats were treated for a 32-week TU-treated phase at the dose of 20 mg TU/kg body weight and a 24-week recovery phase. The reproductive and immunological parameters of 4-6 rats in each subgroup were examined at the stated time point. The mean sperm count and viability in the treated rats were significantly suppressed (p < 0.01). In the TU-treated group: the mean blood leukocyte and lymphocyte counts; the proliferation indexes of T cells from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and spleen; and, of B cells from spleen, as well as the mean counts of blood T, NK, and B cells decreased in comparison with those of control group. These decreases were not significant (p > 0.01). Similarly, the mean serum IgM, IgG, and IgA levels and complement activity in TU-treated rats were lower than those in control group (p > 0.01), and the changes in the antibody levels of the examined genital secretions were not significant (p > 0.01). The changes in the thickness of urethra epithelium, and in secretory component (SC) expression in genitals were not observed in the treated group. These results demonstrated that long-term supraphysiological TU injection did not obviously affect the examined rat immunological parameters.

In vitro anti-HIV and -HSV activity and safety of sodium rutin sulfate as a microbicide candidate

Sodium rutin sulfate (SRS) is a sulfated rutin modified from the natural flavonol glycoside rutin. Here, we investigated its in vitro anti-HIV and -HSV activities and its cytotoxic profile. Fifty percent inhibitory concentration (IC50) values of SRS against HIV-1 X4 virus IIIB, HIV-1 R5 isolates Ada-M and Ba-L were 2.3 +/- 0.2, 4.5 +/- 2.0 and 8.5 +/- 3.8 mu M with a selectivity index (SI) of 563, 575 and 329, respectively. Its IC50 against primary R5 HIV-1 isolate from Yunnan province in China was 13.1 +/- 5.5 mu M, with a Sl of 197. In contrast, unsulfated rutin had no activity against any of the HIV-1 isolates tested. Further study indicated that SRS blocked viral entry and virus-cell fusion likely through interacting with the HIV- I envelope glycoprotein. SRS also demonstrated some activity against human herpes simplex virus (HSV) with an IC50 of 88.3 +/- 0.1 mu M and a Sl of 30. The 50% cytotoxicity concentration (CC50) of SRS was >3.0 mM, as determined in human genital ME 180, HeLa and primary human foreskin fibroblast cells. Minimum inhibitory concentration of SRS for vaginal lactobacilli was >3.0 mM. These results collectively indicate that SRS represents a novel candidate for anti-HIV-1/HSV microbicide development. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

KHAWIA SAUROGOBII N. SP (CESTODA: CARYOPHYLLIDEA) FROM FRESHWATER FISH SAUROGOBIO SPP. (CYPRINIDAE) IN CHINA

Khawia saurogobii n. sp. is described from the intestine of the cyprinid fishes Saurogobio dabryi and Saurogobio dumerili in China. The new species belongs to the Lytocestidae and is placed in Khawia because of its afossate scolex, vitelline follicles in the cortical parenchyma, uterus not looping anterior to the cirrus sac, gonopores separate but close together in distinct genital atrium, external seminal vesicle absent, and postovarian follicles present. The new species differs from other congeneric species by the shape of the body markedly tapering posteriorly from the end of the anterior third, the shape of the scolex that is very short and markedly wider than the neck, spatulate without incisions, but shallow superficial grooves, vitelline follicles and testes starting immediately posterior to the scolex, and an ovary with long, posterior arms bent medially, thus giving the shape of an inverted A.

Redescription of Camallanus hypophthalmichthys Dogel and Akhmerov, 1959 (Nematoda : Camallanidae) and its first record from fishes in China

The nematode Camallanus hypophthalmichthys Dogel and Akhmerov, 1959 is redescribed from specimens collected from the intestine of the bighead carp Aristichthys nobilis, from Liangzihu Lake (Yangtze River basin), Hubei Province, central China. The light and scanning electron microscopical examination made it possible to study in detail the morphology of this so far little-known species and to confirm its validity. The main specific features of C. hypophthalmichthys distinguishing it from the most similar Camallanus spp. is the presence of 3 small caudal processes on the male tail tip, 13-16 longitudinal ridges on the inner surface of the valve of the buccal capsule, and the arrangement of preanal and postanal genital papillae in the male. This finding represents a new host record, the first record of this parasite in the Yangtze River basin, and the first documented record of C. hypophthalmichthys from China. Camallanus hypophthalmichthys is considered a specific intestinal parasite of fishes of the cyprinid Hypophthalmichthyinae.

First record of the family Spengeliidae (Hemichordata : Enteropneusta) from Chinese waters, with description of a new species

Six species belonging to two families of Hemichordata have previously been recorded in Chinese waters. This paper records the discovery and description of a new species of the genus Glandiceps found in Jiaozhou Bay, Qingdao, Shandong Province, named Glandiceps qingdaoensis. The new species has a long proboscis with dorsal and ventral grooves, a stomochord with a long vermiform process, a proboscis cavity with a dorsal median, right and left glomeruli, right and left glomeruli very large and encircling the stomochord, a proboscis skeleton in the cavity extends into the median posterior of the collar, a well-developed dorsal ventral muscular septum in the proboscis cavity dividing the cavity completely into two separate parts. The collar cord is without giant nerve roots. The trunk with four distinct regions that can be recognized externally: branchial-genital region, genital region, hepatic region, and intestinal region. The dorsal pharynx is large and the gill pores are small. The tongue bars are encircled by vesicles, and the first gonad commences at the level of the second or third gill slit.

个体人格类型与气味偏好的关系

So far the studies on personality are based on indirect way due to the complexity and limitation. Present research attempt to find another route to approach personality through olfaction. The framework of present research is on account of a modern personality theory model produced by the British psychologist Eysenck. The aim of present research is to prove a correlation between olfaction and personality because sensation and perception of the olfaction on special part of brain closely related to emotional arousal. This research was carefully designed and performed by both psychological questionnaire and olfaction examination. The results indicated some good correlation between smell sense and personal character, which can by applied into personality and behavior analysis.

共情、共情唤醒机制及共情结果的关系

Empathy was defined as affective experience isomorphic to another person’s affective experience elicited by the person’s affective state in this research. By constructing questionnaires and situational measurement approaches, the relationship among empathy, perspective-taking, imagination, empathic concern, distress, and interconnectedness and helping was analyzed. Perspective-taking and imagination were regarded as arousal mechanisms of empathy. Empathic concern and distress were reactive outcomes of empathy. Interpersonal outcomes of empathy were discussed in this research were empathic interconnectedness and helping. The results showed that perspective-taking had significant positive influence on empathic concern. Empathy partly mediated the effects of perspective-taking on empathic concern. Influence of imagination on empathic distress was partly mediated by empathy also. Perspective-taking had significant negative influence on empathic distress. Empathy had direct effects on its reactive outcomes, and indirect effects on its interpersonal outcomes mediated totally by empathic concern. Classification analysis according to the relationship among empathy, its arousal mechanisms, and reactive outcomes of empathy showed that disposition of empathic reactivity could be divided into 4 styles: general high empathy (22.5%), general low empathy (25.7%), empathic concern (24.4%) and empathic distress (27.3%). 4 styles were different in interpersonal acuity and mental health. It was suggested that adaptive function of 4 styles was different. And the styles of disposition of empathic reactivity significantly predicted situational empathy and its intrapersonal and interpersonal outcomes.

情绪干扰下焦虑水平对执行抑制的影响机制——事件相关电位研究

Behavioral inhibition model suggests the generation of anxiety is related with over-inhibition. For knowing about anxiety better, we used event-related potential (ERP) technique to explore the underlying mechanism of executive inhibition under the emotional distracter in high and low trait-anxious groups. Firstly, we set up the Chinese affective picture system (CAPS) as the stimuli of subsequent experiments. Secondly, we screened the high and low trait-anxious participants using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. In the first ERP study, a modified oddball paradigm was used with the positive, neutral and negative pictures as novel stimuli and the potentials evoked by three types pictures were analyzed. In the second ERP study, the same paradigm with higher task load was employed to examine the interaction of anxious level and emotion. Main results as follows: 1. CAPS consisted of 852 pictures was assessed via three dimensionalities, valence, arousal and dominance. The standard deviation of scores on valence and dominance was more than the standard deviation of scores on dimension of arousal. Scatter plot showed that the score distributing on the dimension of valence and arousal was wide in CAPS. 2. In both high and low trait-anxiety groups, the amplitudes of N2 and P3 of negative pictures were greater and smaller respectively as compared with neutral and positive pictures, which suggested all participants no matter what anxious level required more inhibition processing to negative information than others. 3. With increasing of task load, the P3 amplitudes of negative pictures in high anxious group were reduced relative to neutral pictures. In addition, in high anxious group, the P3 amplitudes of positive pictures had the same changes as those of negative ones. Whereas, the reduced P3 of positive pictures were not observed in low anxious group. The results showed the high anxious participants employed the same inhibitory strategy to the positive distracter as the negative distracter, which possibly the over-inhibition processing was involved in this group. 4. Dipole source analysis found cingulate may be involved in executive inhibition processing. In sum, as for the inhibition, high and low anxious group both is sensitive to negative information. However, in the high load situation, due to the shortness of cognitive resources, the high anxious individual represents the general sensitivity to all emotional information. These results gave the electrophysiological evidence for over-inhibition in high trait-anxiety group.

负性情绪对分泌型免疫球蛋白A的影响以及事件相关电位的关联变化

Although the influence of emotional states on immune function has been generally recognized, researches on the effects of negative emotion on individual SIgA levels have reported mixed findings. Our study aimed to elucidate the relationship between changes in EEG activity and cognitive and psychological mechanisms to the immune changes induced by negative emotion. In experiment one, we investigated how the negative emotional arousal that was induced by watching a number of unpleasant pictures altered the concentration of secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA). Although our results found discrepancies in the changing tendency of SIgA concentration among participants (some participants’ SIgA decreased after watching unpleasant pictures, whereas others increased), further analysis revealed a coherency among the changing of SIgA concentration, participants’ general coping styles and their actual emotion regulation strategies in perceiving unpleasant pictures, and the event-related potentials (ERPs) associated with the watching of unpleasant pictures. The participants whose SIgA increased after watching unpleasant pictures (the increasers) had higher positive coping scores in the Trait Coping Styles Questionnaire (TCSQ) than those whose SIgA decreased (the decreasers). Also, relative to the decreasers, the increasers tended to use more emotion regulation strategies especially when the presented pictures were extremely negative and exhibited a reverse dissociation pattern between the extremely negative pictures and the moderately negative ones in the amplitude of late positive potential (LPP) that was related to the cognitive evaluation of stimuli’s meaning. On this basis, Event-related potentials were recorded first while participants passively viewed unpleasant pictures, and then during an emotion regulation block in which participants were instructed to reappraise unpleasant pictures in the experiment two. We also collected the immune index before and after the passive viewing block and the emotion regulation block. Our study proved that participants felt a less intense emotional response to unpleasant pictures that followed a reappraisal instruction. The decreasing emotional responding to unpleasant pictures decreased the amplitude of the LPP. But larger N2 was induced in the emotion regulation block, because the participants needed to obtained more attentional resources to detect and integrate more stimulus features to use the cognitive reappraisal strategy effectively. The present study has important theoretic and practical significance. For the theoretic significance, our study elucidated the relationship between changes in EEG activity and cognitive and psychological mechanisms to the immune changes induced by negative emotion by using the technologies of ERP, experimental interview and psychological measurement. Meanwhile, our study also provided an explanation for the different changing tendencies of SIgA induced by negative emotions, and it plays an important role in further studying the cognitive neural mechanisms of immune level in response to emotion. As to the practical significance, our study suggests that individuals who use active emotion regulation in the face of negative emotion stimuli may experience significantly increases in immune system function, subsequently lowering the possibility of infection.

迁移性安慰剂效应的多模态机制 ：从痛觉到情绪的行为、ERP和fMRI研究

Although studies on placebo effect proved the placebo expectation established by pain-alleviating treatment could significantly alleviate later pain perception, or the placebo expectation established by anxiety-reducing treatment could significantly reduce the intensity of induced negative feelings, it is still unclear whether or not the placebo effect can occur in a transferable manner. That is, we still don’t know if the placebo expectation derived from pain-alleviating can significantly reduce later negative emotional arousal or not. Experiment 1: We compared the effect of the verbal expectation (purely verbal induction and without pain-alleviating reinforcement) with the reinforced expectation (building the belief in the placebo’s ataractic efficiency on unpleasant picture processing by secret reduction of the intensity of the pain-evoking stimulus) on the negative emotion. The results showed that the expectation, which was reinforced by actual analgesia, was transferable and could produce significant placebo effect on negative emotional arousal. However, the expectation that was merely induced by verbal instruction did not have such power. Experiment 2 both examined the direct analgesic effect of the placebo on the sensory pain (how strong is the pain stimulus) and emotional pain (how disturbing is the pain stimulus) and the transferable ataractic effect of the placebo on the negative emotion (how disturbing is the emotional picture stimulus), and further proved that the placebo expectation that was established from pain-reducing reinforcement not only induced significant placebo effect on pain, but also significant placebo effect on unpleasant feeling. These results support the viewpoint that the reduction of affective pain based on the conditioning mechanism plays an important role in the placebo analgesia, but can’t explain the transferred placebo effect on visual unpleasantness. Experiment 3 continued to use the paradigm of the reinforced expectation group and recorded the EEG activities, the data showed that the transferable placebo treatment was accompanied with decreased P2 amplitude and increased N2 distributed, and significant differences between the transferable placebo condition and the control condition (i.e., P2 and N2) were observed within the first 150-300 ms, a duration brief enough to rule out the possibility that differences between the two conditions merely reflect a bias “to try to please the investigator. In Experiment 4, we selected the placebo responders in the pre-experiment and let them to go through the formal fMRI scan. The results found that the transferable placebo treatment reduced the negative emotional response, emotion-responsive regions such as the amygdala, insula, anterior cingulate cortex and the thalamus showed an attenuated activation. And in the placebo condition, there was an enhanced activation in the subcollosal gyrus, which may be involved in emotional regulation. In conclusion, the transferable placebo treatment induced the reliable placebo effect on the behavior, EEG activity and bold signal, and we attempted to discuss the pychophysiological mechanism based on the positive expectancy.