Fibrin glue vs. nylon in the anastomosis of rabbit fallopian tubes

Fibrin glue was used in end-to-end tubal anastomosis on eight sexually mature female New Zealand white rabbits. The right fallopian tubes were anastomosed with 10/0 nylon and the left with fibrin glue (Tissucol). The animals were mated with males of proven fertility six weeks after surgery and killed two weeks later. The gestational sacs and corpora lutea on the right and left sides were counted separately and the nidation index calculated for each. The presence of adhesions was also evaluated. All the tubes were finally examined under a scanning electron microscope. The fibrin glue was satisfactory in terms of patency, pregnancy and morphology of the epithelium.

Pharmacological prevention of postoperative adhesions experimentally induced in the rat

In order to evaluate the preventive action of certain drugs in the formation of adhesions, three different types of trauma were induced in the uterine horns of 105 female Wistar rats. The animals were divided into six groups of 15 rats each and to each group was administered respectively: aprotinin i.p.; hydrocortisone i.p.; dextran 70 i.p.; colchicine i.p.; saline i.p.; colchicine i.m. One more group of 15 rats was left without treatment, as control. Four weeks later the adhesions were evaluated according to a qualitative/quantitative score and the results analysed using advanced statistical analysis. Aprotinin achieved the best results both in and around the trauma areas. Dextran produced an overall reduction of adhesions, but showed no specific effect on the trauma areas. The other substances failed to improve the adhesion situation.

Polydioxanone in anastomosis of rabbit tubes. A morphological study of the epithelium

Eight NZW rabbits were submitted to end-to-end tubal anastomosis using polydioxanone (PDS), (Ethicon). The animals were sacrificed at two-week intervals between the second and sixteenth week after operating. The tubes were removed and analysed with the scanning electron microscope for the purpose of studying the morphology of the epithelium. Ciliogenesis was completed between the second and fourth weeks. After this period the epithelial conditions observed were completely normal, except for an abundant mucous secretion which, however, was totally normal after sixteen weeks.

Induction of ovulation with purified urinary follicle-stimulating hormone in patients with polycystic ovarian syndrome

Purified urinary follicle-stimulating hormone was used to induce ovulation in 18 patients with polycystic ovarian syndrome. Each ampule contained 75 IU of follicle-stimulating hormone and less than 0.11 IU of luteinizing hormone. Initial doses were 150 to 225 IU/day, later increased to a maximum of 375 IU, according to daily clinical controls and estradiol values. After 12 to 16 days, follicle-stimulating hormone treatment was suspended. Within 36 to 48 hours each patient received 5000 or 10,000 IU of human chorionic gonadotropin, rarely more. Ovulation occurred in 39 of 43 treatment cycles and hyperstimulation in nine. Seven patients had normal pregnancies with viable fetuses, including one pair of twins. Two had abortions. Analysis of the endocrine situation during therapy does not permit either pregnancy or hyperstimulation to be predicted. However, hyperstimulation is frequently accompanied by endogenous luteinizing hormone peaks and greater estradiol increases during the final phase of induction. Purified follicle-stimulating hormone has thus demonstrated its validity in inducing ovulation in patients with polycystic ovarian syndrome, apparently with equal or lower risks of hyperstimulation than with other gonadotropin preparations.

Evolution and reversibility of damage to rabbit fallopian tubes after five sterilization methods

The authors used a scanning electron microscope to study epithelial damage to the rabbit fallopian tube after sterilization with different methods and its subsequent capacity to regenerate after recanalization. Thirty female NZW rabbits were divided into five groups and sterilized using the following methods: 1) Madlener 2) Pommeroy, 3) clips, 4) unipolar coagulation, 5) bipolar coagulation. Each group was divided into subgroups of two and submitted at differing intervals to a second laparotomy, during which one tube was removed and the other anastomosed according to Winston's method. Four weeks after the second laparotomy all the rabbits were sacrificed, the remaining tube removed, and all tubes examined with the scanning electron microscope. The results indicate that mechanical methods of occlusion such as clips offer greater recovery possibilities than those in which the lesion is extended to the mesosalpinx. There further exists a correlation between the time that elapses after sterilization and regeneration of the epithelium.

Canalization of human cervical mucus

Cervical mucus forms channels when dried under a coverslip. The aim of the present work was: 1) to prove mucus canalization both in spontaneous ovulatory cycles and during ovulation induction with gonadotropins; 2) to prove the estrogen dependence of this phenomenon; 3) to check the importance of the proteidic and electrolytic concentration on chaneling; and 4) to use this phenomenon clinically, shortening the time in which it occurs. The number and arrangement of channels vary during the cycle. The phenomenon is estrogen-dependent. The comparison between estradiol values and the number of channels during spontaneous ovulatory cycles and treatment with gonadotropins showed a linear relationship. Treatment with estradiol 17 beta-valerate and ethinyl estradiol induced channel formation in women with primary amenorrhea. Canalization and ferning disappeared after dialysis or treatment with proteolytic enzymes. It follows that the two phenomena have similar characteristics. Canalization increases daily, as does estradiol, whereas ferning maintains the same grade for a longer period, and when a grade of + + + is reached, it provides no further indications. With the use of a thermostat, canalization occurred in only a few hours. Chaneling, a more precise index, could therefore substitute for ferning, particularly when monitoring the induction of ovulation.

LH-HCG receptors: a study of the human corpus luteum of pregnancy

Experiments on binding 125I-LH and 125I-HCG by the human luteal tissue of early pregnancy showed no certain presence of receptors. On the other hand, studies performed with cyclic luteal tissue demonstrated the presence of high specificity, significant affinity receptors. Possible interpretations with reference to the physiological increase in HCG and/or to the characteristics of extrauterine pregnancy are discussed.

Effect of celioscopic ovarian resection in patients with polycystic ovaries

Ovarian resection was performed by means of celioscopy in 12 patients with polycystic ovaries (PCO), who had not responded to clomiphene + HCG therapy. This therapy had induced ovulation in only 14% of 56 therapeutic cycles. Ovarian resection through celioscopy induced ovulation in 45% of cycles. Clomiphene + HCG therapy after resection in patients with no spontaneous ovulation induced ovulation in 44% of cycles. Seven pregnancies followed in 5 women, equal to 41% of patients. Hormonal patterns (FSH, LH, E2, progesterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, testosterone) before and after resection showed no significant variation. The authors emphasize other advantages of this technique, such as fewer surgical injuries than laparotomy, relative harmlessness of the treatment, the possibility of repeating it and of performing subsequent laparotomy.

Effect of drug-induced hyper- and hypoprolactinemia on human corpus luteum

This study was performed on 8 patients with normal levels of PRL and ovulatory cycles. Three of these patients were treated with 5 mg/day Bromocriptine and three of them with 60 mg/day Metoclopramide from the beginning of the cycle in order to induce hypo- and hyperprolactinemia respectively. The other two women were left as control. Daily blood samples were collected for the determination of PRL, LH 17 beta-Estradiol and Progesterone. Patients were operated on between the 6th and the 8th day after the LH peak and corpora lutea enucleated and frozen for subsequent 125I-LH binding tests. An analysis of our data demonstrates that hypo- and hyper- prolactinemia induced with Bromocriptine and Metoclopramide respectively may cause luteal insufficiency, which is revealed by decreased blood levels of progesterone. Furthermore we have observed that specific binding for LH in human luteal tissue is always present (in normal, hypo- and hyperprolactinemic women) but is reduced in presence of very high or very low levels of PRL.

Retrograde ejaculation: a more convenient method for artificial insemination

A case of retrograde ejaculation not responding to medical treatment is described in which the problem of sterility was overcome by artificial insemination. The semen was collected from urine after coitus by previous alkalinization with 1.63 g NaHCO3 once daily. Pregnancy occurred at the 4th insemination during the 1st treatment cycle. This technique seems to be the most suitable for artificial insemination in cases of retrograde ejaculation.

Effect of antiblastokinin on rabbit pregnancy

On different days following coitus, i.e., during the first stages of pregnancy, adult female rabbits were treated with antiblastokinin obtained from a chicken. A high prenatal mortality was observed and a reduction of the weight in the stillborn of the rabbits treated. The antiblastokinin produces evident biological effect about the 4th day following coitus, during the period of maximum production of blastokinin by the endometrium in vivo.

Menometrorrhagia of the puberty: therapy with Clomiphene (Clomiphene and puberal menometrorrhagia)

The authors administrated the Clomiphene, in different doses, to 8 patients among 27 observed. These patients were checked for a long time by basal body temperature and in some cases, measuring total urinary estrogens and pregnandioluria. The therapy was administrated in 38 cicles of the 163 cicles observed. This drug got evident results on flux duration, less significant results on the cicle length. The Clomiphene produced ovulatory cicles in 58 per cent of the cases, against 7 per cent of spontaneous ovulatory cicles of the same patients. The drug effect is better in the cases with normo or moderate hypo or hyper estrogenism, not so good in the cases with a remarcable hypoestrogenism. The therapy with Clomiphene did not produce any inconvenient. The results got were put in comparison with those of the other drug (Ciclophenile) and the superiority of Clomiphene was confirmed.

Iatrogenic hyperstimulation of the ovary with ascites. Report of a case and considerations and management

The authors describe a case of iatrogenic hyperstimulation of the ovary with ascites in a patient with primary amenorrhea and hypogonadotropic hypogonadism. They present the results of total urinary estrogen assays stressing the advisability of a technical check in the presence of an apparently abnormally high estrogen excretion during HMG therapy. The patient's biochemical and hematological data during the stage of clinical hyperstimulation are set out and management is discussed. Finally, the usefulness of timely and adequate albumin administration under CVP control is stressed and the possibility of clinical application of the result of recent experimental research (viz. antihistamines is discussed.

In vitro biosynthesis of rabbit blastokinin

The authors have incubated, in vitro, estrous rabbit endometrium with 3H-leucine and pseudopregnant rabbit endometrium with 14C-leucine. By the double-labeling technique and the use of the 14C:3H ratio, it was shown that blastokinin (BKN) is neosynthesized in vitro and that this neosynthesis probably also affects other protein components. By ion exchange chromatography of the supernatant of the pseudopregnant endometrium and previously purified BKN, it was possible to confirm the in vitro biosynthesis and to exclude interfering phenomena. Time dynamics showed that biosynthesis was more marked between the 18th and 24th hours of incubation.

"Timing" of ovulation by laparoscopy and evaluation of some physico-chemical parameters

The Authors describe the laparoscopic aspects of spontaneous human ovulation and correlate it with the evaluation of basal body temperature, the total urinary oestrogens, pregnanediol and urinary LH and some hematic values of 17-beta-estradiol, 17-alpha-Hydroxyprogesterone and rogesterone. They find that the rise in temperature and the oestrogenuria peak precede ovulation by some hours in the great ovulation by sompe hours in the great majority of cases. They analyze the validity of the other parameters studied, and show a relatively constant behavior, with regard to ovulation, in the mean evaluation of several cases. In the individual analysis, on the contrary, this relation is difficult to find and less significant. The Authors stress the importance of comparing the physico-chemical evaluations with the biological phenomenon of ovulation directly ascertained by means of laparoscopy.