A total of 620 pregnancies were followed and only 25 were lost to follow-up (3.8%). The mean age of the women was 30 years. 42% of them had had ovulation induction treatment. There were 538 primiparous women (86.7%). A control series of 130 primiparous women from the same age group was constituted at random. The abortion rate was 15%. 93% of pregnancies did not pose any problems in the 2nd and 3rd trimesters (83% in the control series). 97% of the women delivered at term (the same as in the control series). The mean birth weight was 3,260 g and the sex ratio was 0.97%. There was a high malformation rate of 1.48% and peri-natal mortality was 1.1%. The caesarian rate in the primiparous women was 31.9% compared with 19.2% in the control series and it was 35.5% in the multiparous women. In the Tours series, which is more homogeneous than our control series, the caesarian rate was essentially related to maternal age: 14.7% caesarian sections before the age of 30 and 30.5% over the age of 30. It seems therefore that AID does not constitute a risk factor for the pregnancy.

Abortion, Spontaneous↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Histologic and immunologic study of the testis after ligation of the vas deferens in dogs].

We wanted to study the effect of bilateral ligature and section of the deferentia of 12 dogs from the histological and immunological aspects. We looked for circulating anti-sperm antibodies and anti-basal membrane of the testes antibodies at the same time as histological study to find out what happened to these lesions after epididymo-deferential anastomosis had been carried out 16 weeks later. The histological lesions (disappearance of exfoliation of the germ cells and of necrobiosis of these cells) disapperared after anastomosis. Anti-basal membrane antibodies were never found. Anti-testicular circulating auto-antibodies were never found. Anti-sperm antibodies appeared between 1 and 5 months after ligature and then disappeared a few months later. Failures to fertilise after epiddidymo-deferential anastomoses therefore do not seem to be due to these two factors.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Apoptosis in the male gonad].

Self-destruction of a cell following an internal or exogenous stimulus was a major concept which emerged in the early seventies. Such a phenomena is now reported to influence both embryonic development and tissue growth or renewing. Tumor growth as well as treatment may depend on apoptosis. This phenomena is identified using morphological as well as biochemical criteria. Spermatogenesis is a target for apoptosis which participate in the regulation of sperm production. Endocrine control of apoptosis in the seminiferous tubule was thoroughly studied, and some mechanistical studies dealing with oncogenes involved in apoptosis control have been done. Apoptosis is a key phenomenon in the control of sperm production.

Animals↗