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Biomedical subjects

D L Fulgham

Publications and source records attributed to D L Fulgham.

29 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1985

Circulating immune complexes in cynomolgus macaques.

Nonhuman primates can be used as models for the study of immune-complex-associated diseases. Recognizing that very little is known about the levels of circulating immune complexes (CICs) in normal monkeys, we have used three assays to measure the levels in serum collected from 313 adult and 106 juvenile cynomolgus macaques (Macaca fascicularis). The prevalence was higher than expected. There was a strong statistical association between CIC levels and country of origin. Monkeys from Indonesia were more likely to have elevated CICs than those from Malaya or the Philippines. This relationship was observed with all three assays. Furthermore, juvenile macaques tended to have lower levels than did adults. This study indicates that it may be important to consider genetic factors, the country of origin, or both when selecting cynomolgus macaques for research on immune-complex-associated diseases.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1983

Pregnancy rates in patients treated for antisperm antibodies with prednisone.

Circulating antisperm antibodies are associated with decreased fertility in both men and women. Several recent reports suggest that corticosteroids suppress antibody levels and thus enhance fertility in such patients. Prednisone was given to 24 patients; 26 patients with antibodies were not so treated and served as controls. The treated group comprised five women and 19 men; the control group comprised one woman and 25 men who had equivalent levels of circulating antibodies. The drug, when given to men, did not cause changes in sperm count, motility, or normal forms, but it did cause significant reductions in levels of circulating immobilizing (P less than or equal to 0.039) and agglutinating (P less than or equal to 0.001) antisperm antibodies in both sexes. Fourteen pregnancies occurred during the 4-month posttreatment study period. Significantly more pregnancies occurred in the treated group than in the control group (11 treated patients [45%] and three controls [12%]; P less than or equal to 0.025). Of the five treated women, four conceived.

Antibodies↗
PubMed1983

Spontaneous tumors in long-term--vasectomized mice. Increased incidence and association with antisperm immunity.

In two independent studies the authors have observed a significantly higher incidence of spontaneous tumors in vasectomized BDF1 mice over the long term than in age-matched sham-vasectomized control mice. In the first study, necropsies were performed on the animals at 30 months of age (27 months after surgery), and 15 of 24 vasectomized versus 2 of 14 sham-vasectomized mice (P less than or equal to 0.025) had detectable tumors in various tissues. In a second study, necropsies were performed on the animals at a younger age (18 months, 15 months after surgery), and liver tumors predominated: 82 of 171 vasectomized versus 33 of 97 controls (48% versus 34%, P less than or equal to 0.037) had at least one hepatic tumor, and a significantly higher percentage of vasectomized animals had large (greater than or equal to 31 sq mm) hepatic tumor burdens (80% versus 49%; P less than or equal to 0.002) and multiple hepatic tumors (19% versus 5%; P less than or equal to 0.002). In combined data from both studies, the vasectomy group had a higher incidence of (1) at least one tumor (P less than or equal to 0.025), (2) multiple tumors (P less than or equal to 0.005), and (3) more than one type of tumor (P less than or equal to 0.05. Furthermore, in both studies tumor number and size were significantly associated with antisperm immunity detected by antibody or aspermatogenesis evaluation. It is speculated that sperm degradation products and/or the autoimmune response to sperm that commonly accompanies vasectomy may affect tumor induction or growth directly or indirectly by interfering with immunosurveillance mechanisms.

Adenocarcinoma, Bronchiolo-Alveolar↗
PubMed1983

Gender after artificial induction of ovulation and artificial insemination.

Several studies on artificial insemination by donor (AID) semen have suggested that the gender of infants can be influenced by treatment of the women with clomiphene citrate (CC) and by the type of semen used (fresh versus cryopreserved). We conducted a 3-year prospective clinical trial to test these hypotheses. Two groups of pregnant women were evaluated. Group I (n = 130) comprised women whose ovulation was induced by CC; group II (n = 190) comprised those who conceived during spontaneous ovulatory cycles. In a total of 320 pregnancies, 55 spontaneous abortions occurred, 23.1% in group I and 13.2% in group II (P less than or equal to 0.05). Two tubal ectopic pregnancies occurred in group I. Of the 100 and 165 pregnancies carried to term in the treated and control groups, respectively, 11% and 1.8% involved twins (P less than or equal to 0.005). When only single births were considered, group I had 46.1% males in 89 term pregnancies, and group II had 60.5% males in 162 term pregnancies. Significantly more female offspring occurred in the group treated with CC (P less than or equal to 0.05). Because it is possible that a portion of the effects observed in this study were a function of cryopreservation of the AID semen, we compared data on frozen sperm with data on fresh sperm in terms of abortion, gender, and incidence of multiple births; there were no significant differences. Fertil Steril 40:481, 1983.

Clomiphene↗
PubMed1982

Immunity to tumor-associated antigens in vasectomized men.

Leukocytes from 49 vasectomized and 57 age-matched nonvasectomized men were tested in the leukocyte adherence inhibition (LAI) assay for reactivity to sperm and various 3-M KCl human tumor extracts. Forty-four percent of the vasectomized men and 15% of the control group were reactive to the sperm antigen preparation (P less than or equal to 0.03). Similarly, a significantly higher percentage of vasectomized men responded to 3 of 5 tumor extracts tested: melanoma I (34.7 vs. 15.8%, P less than or equal to 0.04), squamous cell carcinoma (48.8 vs. 26.0%, P less than or equal to 0.04), and breast carcinoma (19.5 vs. 4%, P less than or equal to 0.04). Thirty percent of vasectomized versus 4% of the control group responded to more than two tumor antigens (P less than or equal to 0.03). The degree of LAI reactivity to each tumor extract was highly correlated with degree of antisperm LAI reactivity, and the degree of LAI responsiveness to one of the melanoma extracts was significantly correlated with antisperm antibody titer as measured by the sperm-immobilization assay. Furthermore, nonresponsive leukocytes from the control population converted to tumor antigen-responsive when incubated with sera from vasectomized LaI-positive men. Data from this study indicated that a large percentage of vasectomized men with sperm immunity were responsive to tumor-associated antigens in the LAI test and that antisperm antibodies or other serum factors played a role in this response. These results and the evidence that most tumor antigen-responsive cancer patients also have serum antibodies that reacted with sperm suggested that vasectomized men and cancer patients frequently responded to immunologically cross-reactive antigenic determinants present on both sperm and tumor cells.

Antibodies↗
PubMed1981

Cervical mucus penetration test for in vitro assay of vaginal contraceptive agents.

An in vitro penetration test employing bovine cervical mucosa to evaluate vaginal contraceptives is presented. Its usefulness for the evaluation of the potency of a formulation in preventing sperm penetration was assessed by comparison of five commercially available preparations, with the use of both human and primate spermatozoa. The results were compared with those obtained with a spermicidal test (Sander-Cramer method) and in vivo with the use of the primate Macaca arctoides. Analysis of the two in vitro tests and the one in vivo test showed a significant degree of concurrence. The cervical mucus test much more closely reflected in vivo results than the Sander-Cramer test. A recommendation is made regarding the type and order of in vitro and in vivo methods to be used for the development and/or testing of new formulations.

Animals↗
PubMed1977

Cell-mediated immunity in vasectomized rhesus monkeys.

Cell-mediated immunity in rhesus monkeys that had been vasectomized for 2, 4, 7, or 11 years was measured by lymphocyte blastogenesis following stimulation with concanavalin A, phytohemagglutinin (PHA), and pokeweed mitogens. Several of the 7- and 11-year vasectomized animals had significantly reduced PHA reactivity when compared with control animals, and the percentage of animals with reduced PHA reactivity increased with time after vasectomy.

Alpha-Globulins↗