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Biomedical subjects

C O'Neill

Publications and source records attributed to C O'Neill.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources
PubMed1990

Platelet-activating factor alters the dynamics of prostaglandin and protein synthesis by endometrial explants from pregnant and cyclic cows at day 17 following estrus.

Factors produced by bovine conceptuses alter prostaglandin (PG) and protein secretion by endometrial explants from cyclic cows and induce an intracellular inhibitor of PG synthesis. Endometrial explants from cyclic (n = 4) and pregnant (n = 3) cows at Day 17 following estrus were incubated for 24 h with 0, 0.1, 0.5, 1 and 5 microg platelet-activating factor (PAF)/ml. Cotyledonary microsomes from parturient cows were utilized to determine levels of an intracellular/cytosolic inhibitor of PG synthesis. Endometrial explants from additional cyclic cows (n = 4) were incubated for 24 h with 0 or 5 microg PAF/ml with and without 50 microCi [(3)H]leucine. Endometrial explants (cyclic cows, n = 3) were also incubated for 12 h with each of the following treatments: 1) Control; 2) PAF (1 microg/ml); 3) lyso-PAF (2 to 10 microg/ml); 4) PAF-receptor antagonist (2 to 10 microg/ml); 5) PAF (1 microg/ml) + antagonist (2 to 10 microg/ml); 6) bovine conceptus secretory proteins (bCSP; 25 microg/ml); and 7) bCSP (25 microg/ml) + antagonist (5 microg/ml). Platelet-activating factor had distinct negative and positive dose effects on PGF and PGE-2 secretion, respectively, by explants from cyclic cows, whereas PG secretion was not altered by PAF in the endometrium of pregnant cows. Platelet-activating factor did not alter the level of an intracellular inhibitor of prostaglandin synthesis, whereas, bCSP increased the level of this inhibitor. Platelet-activating factor decreased the incorporation of [(3)H]leucine into tissue and secreted proteins for explants from cyclic cows. Lyso-PAF did not alter endometrial prostaglandin secretion. The effects of PAF but not of bCSP were blocked by the PAF-receptor antagonist. Platelet-activating factor altered PG and protein secretion by the endometrium from cyclic cows, and it may be a potential regulatory factor during early pregnancy if secreted by the bovine conceptus.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1990

Elevated luteal phase estradiol:progesterone ratio in mice causes implantation failure by creating a uterine environment that suppresses embryonic metabolism.

Failure of implantation after in vitro fertilization is sometimes associated with elevated estradiol (E2):progesterone (P) ratios in the early luteal phase. Using the mouse to study the causes of the contragestational actions of elevated E2:P ratios, it was confirmed that administration of E2 (40 to 80 ng) before implantation inhibited implantation and 0.4 mg of P totally reversed the effect of 40 ng E2. Fluids collected from the uterine lumen of E2-treated (40 ng) mice significantly inhibited the incorporation of 3H-uridine by mouse blastocysts in vitro, whereas fluids from mice treated with E2 (40 ng) and P (0.4 mg) together had no inhibitory effect. In contrast to these contraceptive effects of high E2, lower levels of E2 (5 and 20 ng) caused an increase and no change to the implantation rate, respectively, and fluids from mice treated with E2 (20 ng) significantly enhanced blastocyst metabolism. Concomitant administration of P to these low dose E2 mice enhanced these effects. Thus, a large elevation of the E2:P ratio inhibited implantation and created a uterine lumenal milieu that suppressed embryonic metabolism. These effects could be reversed and implantation re-established by the correction of the E2:P ratio by exogenous P.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Embryo-derived platelet activating factor: interactions with the arachidonic acid cascade and the establishment and maintenance of pregnancy.

Two classes of potent lipid mediators are produced by the mouse and human pre-embryo: platelet activating factor (PAF) and prostaglandins (PGs). This paper reviews the evidence for their production by the pre-embryo and for their role in embryo development and the successful establishment of pregnancy. The biosynthesis of PAF and arachidonic acid may be linked, the synthesis of PAF resulting in the generation of arachidonic acid with its subsequent conversion to prostaglandins. Pharmacological inhibitor studies show that a major site of action of PAF is the embryo itself, acting as an embryonic autocrine growth factor, whereas PGs appear to act primarily on maternal tissues although they do modulate some aspects of early embryo metabolism. It is the maternal tissues that are the primary source of PG production in early pregnancy. Maternal PGs have a variety of functions including involvement in the proinflammatory response of early pregnancy and the control of corpus luteum function. In the ewe, pregnancy is associated with an attenuation of oxytocin-induced production of the luteolysin, prostaglandin F2 alpha (PGF2 alpha). PAF can mimic the effect of pregnancy, preventing the release of PGF2 alpha in response to exogenous oxytocin and, when administered into the uterine lumen, extending the life span of the corpus luteum. Thus, embryo-derived PAF appears to have an essential role in the establishment of pregnancy by acting as an autocrine growth factor for the embryo and by exerting a variety of effects on maternal physiology, including modulating maternal prostaglandin secretion and action.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Cytogenetic analysis of biopsied preimplantation mouse embryos: implications for prenatal diagnosis.

Genetic diagnosis of enzyme deficiencies have been developed in mouse models using biopsied preimplantation embryos. A technique for preimplantation cytogenetic analysis was developed using embryos which were biopsied at the 4-cell, 8-cell and morula stage. Three culture methods were compared, using exposure directly to colchicine or preculture or overnight culture with subsequent exposure to colchicine. Some biopsies were lost through cell death (4.7-20.3%) and technical problems (11.1-27.8%), whilst others remained in interphase (13.0-46.5%). Air-dried preparations were successfully G-banded and karyotyped by modifying routine banding procedures. Biopsies placed directly into colchicine yielded the greatest mitotic index. However, chromosome morphology was unsuitable for G-banded analysis. After a short preculture, 71.4% of fixed 8-cell biopsies were karyotyped. The success of analysis of 8-cell biopsies is probably partly related to the higher mitotic index of intact embryos at this stage. Loss of chromosomes through scatter and chromosome overlapping limited analysis, particularly in biopsies with only one metaphase. The present success rate is not acceptable for the application of this technique to human prenatal diagnosis. However, it presents a useful tool for the study of chromosomal error at the research level.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Assessment of the viability and pregnancy potential of mouse embryos biopsied at different preimplantation stages of development.

The developmental potential in vitro and in vivo of preimplantation mouse embryos biopsied at the 4-cell, 8-cell and morula stages were investigated. Biopsy had the least impact when performed at the 8-cell stage. There was no effect of biopsy on the development of 8-cells of blastocysts in vitro (95% compared with 99% of controls) or the implantation rate after transfers (82 versus 87%, P greater than 0.05); however, fewer embryos (52 versus 71%, P less than 0.05) resulted in viable fetuses. There was no effect of biopsy at the 8-cell stage on fetal weight on day 17. Blastocyst formation in vitro was significantly less for 4-cell biopsies compared with their controls (76 versus 90%, P less than 0.001) and biopsy also affected the implantation rate (44 versus 59%, P less than 0.01). Biopsy was most detrimental when performed on morulae, reducing the implantation rate from 65% for controls to 21% for biopsies (P less than 0.001). Fetal viability was also markedly affected with a reduction on day 17 from 42 to 26% accompanied by a significant reduction (24%, P = 0.02) of the mean fetal weight. Handling of embryos for biopsy at the morula stage, which involved removal of the zona pellucida, was a significant but not complete cause of the reduced implantation potential observed (sham-controls and intact-controls: 34 and 65%, P less than 0.001), while puncture of the zona during the biopsy of 4-cell and 8-cell embryos had no effect. Therefore, the 8-cell mouse embryo is the most suitable state for embryo biopsy.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Measurement of human embryo-derived platelet-activating factor (PAF) using a quantitative bioassay of platelet aggregation.

A quantitative bioassay was used to measure the concentration of platelet activating factor (PAF) in medium in which human embryos produced by IVF had been cultured and in various other biological fluids. Following extraction and partial purification, 121 of 228 (53%) media samples in which single human embryos were cultured for 24 h had PAF levels greater than found in corresponding control media. This was assigned as embryo-derived PAF and the corresponding embryos termed 'PAF-positive'. Medium from those PAF-positive embryos transferred to patients who achieved an ongoing pregnancy had a mean PAF concentration of 295 +/- 107 nM (mean +/- SEM, n = 55), which was significantly greater (P less than 0.03) than media of PAF-positive embryos transferred to patients who failed to become pregnant (75 +/- 27 nM, n = 66, t-test). The embryos with the faster cleavage rates tended to secrete more PAF (P less than 0.01). Although a greater proportion of culture media derived from embryos transferred to patients who achieved a pregnancy were PAF-positive (66 out of 121, 54.5%) compared with those transferred to patients who failed to achieve a pregnancy (55 out of 121, 45.4%), this was not significant (P greater than 0.05). It was observed that 13% of women who achieved a pregnancy had embryos transferred which did not produce significant amounts of PAF in vitro. This occurred in 26% of women not achieving pregnancy.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Biological Assay↗
PubMed1990

Narrow linear strips of adhesive substratum are powerful inducers of both growth and total focal contact area.

The stimulus to growth that occurs when cells attach to the substratum can be studied with small adhesive islands. Large numbers of these islands can be grouped together into arrays made up of various sizes, and the response of cells to incubation on these arrays allows the anchorage stimulus to be measured. Past work has shown that single isolated cells can be stimulated to proliferate under these circumstances quite as freely as they do in ordinary cultures, and that the maximum response is given by islands whose size is less than 5000 microns 2. This anchorage stimulus might be mediated by the cytoskeleton, which assembles rapidly around the points of attachment to the substratum. One possible approach to testing this hypothesis is to expose cells to islands of different shapes, and to search for common factors among the different arrangements of the cytoskeleton that these different islands cause. Circular islands induced a relatively disordered arrangement of actin fibres. The fibres were attached at one end to foci of vinculin, which sometimes became arranged in a ring around the margin of the island. Triangular islands showed a more orderly arrangement of actin, in three bands parallel to the sides. In this case, the vinculin accumulated at the apices. Long islands only 3 microns wide could also provide effective attachment for the cells. In this shape the actin accumulated in two bands 2 microns or more apart and up to 5 microns high, and the vinculin similarly collected in parallel interrupted bands along the margins of the island. The number of vinculin foci differed on these three different island shapes, and the total area of vinculin was more than three times greater on long islands than on circles or triangles of the same size. Despite these differences, all three different shapes of island were capable of inducing up to 100 microns 2 of vinculin foci in each cell. Round and triangular islands induced this maximum amount of vinculin when their size was 5000 microns 2. Linear islands induced the same amount when they were only 1000 microns 2. The effect of different shapes on total vinculin focal area was paralleled by their effects on growth. All three shapes could support a similar amount of proliferation. Round and triangular islands induced the maximum amount of proliferation when they were 5000 microns 2 in area, and linear islands when they were only 1000 microns 2.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Actins↗
PubMed1990

Antagonists of embryo-derived platelet-activating factor act by inhibiting the ability of the mouse embryo to implant.

This study utilized the transfer of preimplantation embryos to pseudo-pregnant mice to determine whether PAF-antagonists act primarily on the maternal or embryonic components of implantation. The first experiment used reciprocal embryo transfers, in which blastocysts from mice treated with PAF antagonist (SRI 63-441) or saline (controls), from Days 1 to 4 of pregnancy, were transferred to Day-3 pseudo-pregnant recipients which were also treated with SRI 63-441 or saline on Days 1-4 of pregnancy. The antagonist (40 micrograms) was administered at 16:00 h on Day 1 and at 09:00 h on Days 2-4 of pregnancy. The percentage of the transferred embryos which implanted was determined on Day 8 of pregnancy. Treatment of the recipient or the donor female with SRI 63-441 resulted in a reduction in implantation rate, from a control level of 45% to 33.8% or 34.7% (P less than 0.0002, P less than 0.007) respectively. These results suggest that the PAF antagonist affected implantation at the embryonic and maternal levels. However, when the blastocysts were transferred to Day-4 pseudopregnant recipients, treatment of the donor female had a dramatic effect on the implantation rate, resulting in a reduction of 64% (from 40% to 14.3%, P less than 0.04), while treatment of the recipient female had no significant effect. In this later experiment the transferred embryos were exposed to the recipient uterine environment for a shorter period before implantation. These results suggest that PAF antagonists affected implantation at the embryonic level and did not adversely affect maternal physiology.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Oxidative metabolism of energy substrates by preimplantation mouse embryos in the presence of platelet-activating factor.

The effects of exogenous platelet-activating factor (PAF, 0.0186-18.6 microM) on the production of CO2 from [U-14C]glucose and [1-14C]lactate by mouse embryos in vitro were investigated. Two-cell embryos displayed significant dose-dependent responses for both energy substrates. The maximal response was observed at 9.3 microM-PAF for glucose metabolism and 1.86 microM-PAF for lactate with increases of 62% and 18%, respectively, over control treatments. After culture from the 2-cell stage for 72 h in the presence of PAF, the resulting blastocysts exhibited a significant dose-dependent increase in metabolism of lactate. It was also apparent that such embryos were not desensitized to PAF as demonstrated by a further enhancement of the metabolic response after re-exposure to PAF. The specificity of action of PAF was confirmed by the absence of any effect on the oxidative metabolism of glucose by lyso-PAF (a catabolite of PAF) over a concentration range of 0.0202-20.2 microM and by the demonstration that SRI 63-441 (a PAF-receptor antagonist) significantly reduced the amount of CO2 produced from glucose in response to 9.3 microM-PAF and abolished the effect on lactate metabolism in response to 1.86 microM-PAF. These results demonstrate a specific, direct influence of exogenous PAF on the oxidative metabolism of glucose and lactate by the preimplantation mouse embryo and suggest an autocrine role for embryo-derived PAF in early pregnancy.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Implantation potential and fetal viability of mouse embryos cultured in media supplemented with platelet-activating factor.

Supplementation of culture media with PAF failed to increase the proportion of 2-cell mouse embryos which developed through to the expanded blastocyst stage after 72 h of culture in vitro. Culture of embryos with 1.86 microM-PAF, however, significantly increased the number of cells in expanded blastocysts. Culture in vitro with 0.186 or 1.86 microM-PAF significantly increased the ability of embryos to implant upon transfer to pseudopregnant recipients. The specificity of this effect was demonstrated by its inhibition by the specific PAF-receptor antagonist, SRI 63-441. Of the embryos which implanted, there was no difference in the proportions of PAF-treated or control embryos which resorbed nor was there any effect of PAF on fetal weight or crown-rump length measurements. Embryos cultured with 1.86 microM-PAF did have slightly heavier placentae than their respective controls. These results demonstrate the ability of exogenous PAF to enhance the viability of preimplantation mouse embryos cultured in vitro and support the hypothesis that a major site of the action of PAF during early pregnancy is the embryo itself.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Supplementation of in-vitro fertilisation culture medium with platelet activating factor.

The supplementation of culture medium with platelet activating factor (PAF) on the subsequent implantation and pregnancy potential of pre-embryos produced by in-vitro fertilisation was studied. Pre-embryo culture medium was supplemented with 0 (control), 0.186, 0.93, or 1.49 mumol/1 PAF. Pre-embryos were transferred to PAF-containing medium 15-17 h after insemination (ie, just before syngamy) for 24 h and then transferred to the uterus. For 185 women receiving control pre-embryos, the pregnancy rate (positive beta human chorionic gonadotropin per oocyte retrieval) was 10.2%, while 166 women who received PAF treated pre-embryos (all concentrations combined) achieved a pregnancy rate of 17.5%. This difference was significant. The pregnancy rates per pre-embryo transferred were 6.1% and 9.4% for the control and PAF groups, respectively. The percentage of positive pregnancy tests that resulted in a viable pregnancy (presence of fetal heart at 8 weeks) was 78.9% in the controls and 75.9% in the PAF group. There was no difference in the average number of embryos transferred in either group. The increase in the pregnancy rate after a short exposure of pre-embryos to PAF in vitro suggests that PAF mediates pre-embryo development.

Chorionic Gonadotropin↗
PubMed1989

Platelet activating factor (PAF) production by mouse embryos in vitro and its effect on embryonic metabolism.

Factors affecting the production of platelet activating factor (PAF) by mouse embryos during culture in vitro were investigated. Detectable levels of embryo-derived PAF were produced within 1-4 hr with maximum PAF activity being observed after 6 hr of culture in vitro. The amount of PAF detected in media after 24 hr of culture of two-cell embryos was equivalent to 12.8 ng PAF/embryo. However, differences in activity were apparent with increased time in culture. Reduced synthesis of PAF during culture in vitro was supported by the observation that morulae stage embryos collected fresh from the reproductive tract displayed more PAF activity than morulae resulting from the 48 hr culture of two-cell embryos. In addition to determining production characteristics of PAF by embryos, we also show that the production of CO2 from carbon-1 position of lactate is positively correlated with the ability of embryos to develop during subsequent culture in vitro and therefore could be used as a measure of embryo viability. Furthermore, culture of embryos in media supplemented with PAF resulted in an increase in lactate utilization demonstrating a direct effect of PAF on the embryo. As PAF is produced by preimplantation embryos, an autocoid role of PAF in regulating embryo development is implicated. Therefore, the reduced production of PAF by embryos in vitro may explain the decreased viability of embryos commonly observed following their culture in vitro.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Alpha 1-adrenergic receptor binding sites in post-mortal human cerebral microvessel preparations: preservation in multi-infarct dementia and dementia of Alzheimer type.

Cerebral cortical microvessels were prepared from control, dementia of Alzheimer type (AD/SDAT) and multi-infarct dementia (MID) autopsy cases. The microvessel yields were approx. 200 micrograms protein/g starting material, and did not differ significantly between control, MID and AD/SDAT groups. The purity of the preparations was confirmed both by light and electron microscopy and by measurement of enrichment of the endothelial markers gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase and alkaline phosphatase. Higher microvessel alkaline phosphatase activities and higher microvessel/homogenate ratios of activities of both enzymes in the MID and the AD/SDAT samples than in the control samples were found, which may be consistent with previous findings of structural abnormalities of the cerebral endothelial cells in AD/SDAT. The levels of [3H]prazosin binding did not differ significantly between control. MID and AD/SDAT samples at any [ligand] tested (0.05, 0.1, and 0.5 nM), suggesting conservation of microvessel alpha 1-adrenoceptors in MID and AD/SDAT.

Aged↗
PubMed1988

The effect of Triton X-100 on bovine brain synaptic membranes.

Bovine brain synaptic membranes which were frozen and then extensively washed showed low affinity [3H]muscimol binding. These membranes contained GABA and calmodulin, apparently tightly bound within the membrane fraction. Membranes which were additionally treated with the detergent Triton X-100 showed high affinity [3H]muscimol binding. These membranes did not appear to contain GABA or calmodulin. Transmission electron microscopy studies demonstrated that the washed membrane fraction contained many synaptosomal and vesicular structures. Triton treatment led to the extensive rupture of these structures. These studies explain the well-reported findings of tightly bound GABA and calmodulin in brain membrane fractions, as being due to the entrapment of these compounds inside sealed membrane-bound structures which are still present after a freeze-thaw and extensive wash treatment, their complete removal requiring Triton-treatment to rupture the vesicles.

Animals↗