Reproductive and Urinary Physiology Commons^™

Parental Instincts: The Neurological And Biological Factors Associated With Parenthood, Jared Reeder

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The following project involves a systematic review of the scientific literature on neural and biological changes of mothers and fathers in parenthood. Until very recently, little scientific research was devoted to studying how bearing children affects a man or woman’s long-term biology. Over the last twenty years, studies of neuroplastic changes in new mothers show specific neural mechanisms responsible for altering the behaviors of mothers during and after pregnancy. These changes in neuroplasticity alter behavior in such a way that led to mothers requiring less sleep and being more prone to hearing the cries of their children. In addition to …

Free Fatty Acid Treatment Alters Autophagy During Mouse Preimplantation Embryo Development, Zuleika C. L. Leung

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Obesity-induced hyperlipidemia is one of the main factors for female infertility. Hyperlipidemia, specifically with high levels of palmitic acid (PA) and oleic acid (OA), interferes with preimplantation development. Autophagy is essential in early embryo development but, it is unknown whether hyperlipidemia affects autophagic mechanisms in preimplantation embryos. It was hypothesized that PA will alter autophagy in preimplantation mouse embryos and that the subsequent effects will be reversed by OA. PA impaired blastocyst development by arresting embryos at the 8-cell stage. PA also elevated early embryo autophagy by increasing autophagosome formation, decreasing maturation, and disrupting degradation. Co-treatment with OA showed developmental …

Targeting Epigenetic Mechanisms In Endometriosis, Sarah Elizabeth Brunty

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Endometriosis is a complex and elusive gynecological disease in which the inner lining of the uterus grows in locations outside of the uterus and forms lesions. It is known to affect 1 in 9 women of reproductive age worldwide. Symptoms of endometriosis include severe pain, heavy periods, and infertility. While multiple theories of origin exist, none fully encompass all aspects of the disease, although all theories agree that this is an inflammation-driven disease. Due to this, many researchers are turning towards epigenetics to explain the initiation and progression of endometriosis. However, what is causing these epigenetic changes is still a …

Erbb3 Signaling And Its Effect On Spheroid Formation In Ovarian Cancer, Muskan Bansal, Danielle Burke, Mara P. Steinkamp

Auctus: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

ErbB3 is a receptor tyrosine kinase in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) family. Like other family members, it has an extracellular ligand-binding domain, a transmembrane domain, and an intracellular kinase domain. ErbB3 requires interactions with other receptors and dimerizes with ErbB2 and MET, to activate downstream signaling pathways. Mutations in the ErbB3 gene within the extracellular and kinase domains have been identified in many cancer types. To understand the impact of ErbB3 on cancer growth and metastasis, the human ovarian cancer cell line, OVCAR8, was used as a model. Parental OVCAR8 cells that express ErbB2 and ErbB3 were compared …

Characterization Of The Nicotine-Induced Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Response In The Rat Placenta In Vivo And In Vitro, Michael Ka Chun Wong

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Nicotine exposure during pregnancy leads to adverse health outcomes, including compromised placental development. Although the molecular mechanisms remain elusive, recent studies identified that endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress may underlie poor placentation. Therefore, we were interested in investigating the effects of nicotine exposure on the ER stress response in the placenta. A well-established maternal nicotine exposure rat model and Rcho-1 trophoblast giant cell model were utilized to address the research questions. Maternal nicotine exposure in vivo led to elevated ER stress in association with impaired disulfide bond formation and hypoxia. Nicotine exposure in vitro further differentiated that ER stress may be …

Prostate Field Cancerization – Thinking Outside The Tumor, Dor Shoshan

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Analysis of tumor adjacent tissue is assumed to reveal a temporal record of molecular pathways that define oncogenesis. The present study determines expression of the key transcription factor and potential marker of field cancerization early growth response 1 (EGR-1) in human prostate tissues derived from prostatectomies and biopsies. Expression was detected using immunofluorescence and quantified using ImageJ software. Accordingly, EGR-1 expression was similar in cancerous and in histologically normal adjacent tissues from prostatectomy and biopsy specimens. EGR-1 could be exploited as pre-surgical disease indicator in false negative biopsies, identify areas of repeat biopsy, and add molecular information to surgical margins.

Exploring Egr-1 As A Master Regulator Of Prostate Field Cancerization, Kristin Gabriel, Marco Bisoffi

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Field cancerization denotes the presence of molecular aberrations (genetic, epigenetic, biochemical) in structurally intact cells residing in histologically normal tissues adjacent to tumors. Markers of field cancerization in prostate tissues have the potential to improve the clinical management of this malignancy through their potential to act as indicators of early disease and to serve as molecular targets for early intervention. However, for this, a detailed understanding of the functional pathways underlying field cancerization is necessary. We have recently identified four protein markers of prostate field cancerization, i.e. the key transcription factor early growth response 1 (EGR-1), the lipogenic enzyme fatty …

Effect Of Curcumin Analog Ca27 On Androgen Receptor Translocation In Prostate Cancer Cells, Lijah Vann Gardner

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The androgen receptor (AR) plays an essential role in promoting the development and progression of metastatic prostate cancer and represents an important molecular target for therapeutic intervention. We have recently described a series of synthetic analogs of the natural product diferuloylmethane (curcumin), some of which induce the down-regulation of AR expression in prostate cancer cells by an as yet largely unknown mechanism of action. While such analogs may in the long term be lead structures for the development of therapeutic drugs, we hypothesize here that they represent ideal molecular probes to identify the mechanism(s) of action for AR down-regulation. We …

Loss Of Ski Expression In Testicular Cancer Leads To An Enhanced Invasive Phenotype Through Both Bmp-Dependent And Bmp-Independent Pathways, Amy N. Nash

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The proto-oncogene SKI is a transcription factor and a co-repressor of the TGFβ superfamily, including TGF

β and BMP. However, additional data suggests that SKI may function as a tumor suppressor in some cell types. The TGFβ superfamily has been implicated in cancer progression and germ cell migration. Testicular cancer afflicts men during their peak reproductive years and is the most common cancer among men of this age group. Cisplatin-based chemotherapy is the standard treatment for testicular cancer. This treatment can lead to undesirable side effects, including infertility. We have shown that SKI expression is decreased in testicular germ cell …

Progesterone And 17 Α-Hydroxyprogesterone: Novel Stimulators Of Calcium Influx In Human Sperm, Peter F. Blackmore, Stephen J. Beebe, Douglas R. Danforth, Nancy Alexander

Bioelectrics Publications

Progesterone and 17 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone (but not other steroids such as testosterone, corticosterone, beta-estradiol, estrone, dehydroepiandrosterone, 20 alpha-hydroxypregnen-3-one, androstenedione, and pregnenolone) were shown to cause an immediate increase, in free cytosolic calcium ([Ca2+]i) in both capacitated and noncapacitated human sperm, using the fluorescent indicator fura 2. Significant increases in [Ca2+]i were observed with 10 ng/ml progesterone, while maximum effects were seen with 1 microgram/ml progesterone. Two other steroids 11 beta-hydroxyprogesterone and 5 alpha-pregnane-3,20-dione exhibited significant activity to increase [Ca2+]i. This increase in [Ca2+]i elicited by progesterone was entirely due to Ca2+ influx from the extracellular medium since the increase in [Ca2+]i …