Journal of Isfahan Medical School
Year:2023 | Volume:41 | Issue:725|Papers Count:3

Background: The function of the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal axis plays an important role in regulating fertility. This study aimed to investigate the effect of intracerebroventricular (ICV) injection of salmon calcitonin (sCT) on sex hormones and sperm quality in rats.Methods: This experimental study was conducted in 2023 at Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz and Shiraz University. Twelve rats were divided into two groups (n = 6). Rats of the first group (control) were injected with artificial cerebrospinal fluid with a volume of 5 microliters ICV. Rats of the second group injected ICV with sCT at a dose of 1.5 nmol with a volume of 5 microliters. 72 hours after ICV injections, the serum levels of LH, FSH, and testosterone were measured. Also, sperms from the epididymal region were used to determine sperm quality.Findings: ICV injection of sCT decreased the levels of LH, FSH, and testosterone significantly. The sCT reduced sperm density significantly, but not motility, compared to the control group. The sCT decreased significantly the intact acrosome and increased the damaged acrosome compared to the control group.Conclusion: ICV injection of sCT can reduce sperm quality, probably through induction of an imbalance in FSH and LH production as well as testosterone.

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer and the fourth cause of death due to cancer. Several genes with different penitence, as well as different genetic variants, have been identified in CRC risk. Based on the studies, the TOX2 gene is proposed as a candidate gene for CRC. In the present study, the relationship between rs6065668 polymorphism and TOX2 gene expression was investigated with the risk of CRC. Methods: In the present study, 2 CC of venous blood was collected from 50 patients referred to the Imam Hassan Mojtabi Cancer Treatment Center in Dezful, and 50 healthy individuals as a control group (matched in terms of age and gender). In this study, rs6065668 polymorphism of the TOX2 gene was investigated by the High-Resolution Melting (HRM) technique and gene expression by the Real-time PCR method. Findings: Findings: The frequency of genotypes in patients was 42% for the CC genotype, 46% for CT, and 12% for TT, and in the control group, CC, CT, and TT genotypes were 26%, 54%, and 20%, respectively, which had no significant difference between the groups and as well as the results of gene expression were not significantly different between groups and different genotypes. Conclusion: Considering that the frequency of CC, CT, and TT genotypes as well as TOX2 gene expression did not show a statistically significant difference between CRC patients compared to healthy subjects, the results of this study showed that changes in TOX2 gene are not related to the risk of CRC.

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are associated with the development of chronic inflammation, increase of pro-inflammatory cytokine, and decrease of anti-inflammatory cytokine. However, the effects of exercise training on inflammatory markers in these patients are not understood. This study aims to investigate the effect of exercise on inflammatory markers in patients with OA and RA. Methods: A systematic search was conducted in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases for English and Persian-published articles until March 1, 2024. Meta-analysis was conducted for the studies of exercise training against the control group on the inflammatory markers including IL-6, TNF-α and CRP. To determine the effect size, standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence interval (CIs) were used using CMA3 software. Findings: 15 studies involving 660 subjects with OA and RA were included in the meta-analysis. The results showed that exercise training resulted in a significant decrease in TNF-α [-0.43 (CI: -1.76 to -0.15), P = 0.02] and CRP [-0.91, (CI: -1.47 to -0.35 CI), P = 0.001], while the effect of exercise training on the reduction of IL-6 [-0.40 (CI: -0.91 to 0.10), P = 0.12] was not significant. Conclusion: Exercise training may lead to the reduction of inflammatory markers in patients with OA and RA. Improvement of inflammation with exercise training may be the reason for the beneficial effect of exercise training in these patients.