Histopathological changes in ovary and endometrium after tubal ligation: a rat model

Nanomaterials Solutions for Contraception: Concerns, Advances, and Prospects

Preventing unintentional pregnancy is one of the goals of a global public health policy to minimize effects on individuals, families, and society. Various contraceptive formulations with high effectiveness and acceptance, including intrauterine devices, hormonal patches for females, and condoms and vasectomy for males, have been developed and adopted over the last decades. However, distinct breakthroughs of contraceptive techniques have not yet been achieved, while the associated long-term adverse effects are insurmountable, such as endocrine system disorder along with hormone administration, invasive ligation, and slowly restored fertility after removal of intrauterine devices. Spurred by developments of nanomaterials and bionanotechnologies, advanced contraceptives could be fulfilled via nanomaterial solutions with much safer and more controllable and effective approaches to meet various and specific needs for women and men at different reproductive stages. Nanomedicine techniques have been extended to develop contraceptive methods, such as the targeted drug delivery and controlled release of hormone using nanocarriers for females and physical stimulation assisted vasectomy using functional nanomaterials via photothermal treatment or magnetic hyperthermia for males. Nanomaterial solutions for advanced contraceptives offer significantly improved biosafety, noninvasive administration, and controllable reversibility. This review summarizes the nanomaterial solutions to female and male contraceptives including the working mechanisms, clinical concerns, and their merits and demerits. This work also reviewed the nanomaterials that have been adopted in contraceptive applications. In addition, we further discuss safety considerations and future perspectives of nanomaterials in nanostrategy development for next-generation contraceptives. We expect that nanomaterials would potentially replace conventional materials for contraception in the near future.

The interaction between sexual reward/ deprivation and the acquisition, extinction and reinstatement of morphine-seeking behavior

Natural rewards and abused drugs affect the function of the common brain's reward system. Interaction between social and drug rewards can change the vulnerability to development of drug addiction. Here, we investigate the effects of sexual experience and sex deprivation on the acquisition, maintenance, and drug prime-induced reinstatement of morphine-seeking behavior in male mice using conditioned place preference (CPP). CPP induced with morphine (3, 5, 7 mg/kg, s.c. for 3 days) lasted for 10 days after cessation of morphine treatment and priming dose of morphine (2 mg/kg, s.c.) reinstated the extinguished CPP. In the post-test phase, sexually experienced animals showed a lower preference for morphine compared to sex-deprived males. In the extinction phase, sex deprivation shortened maintenance time compared to control animals. The preference for morphine in sexually experienced animals did not diminish by the seventeenth extinction day. In both groups, the priming injection of morphine after the extinction period could reinstate the extinguished morphine-induced CPP. Together, these data showed the interaction between sex and drug reward and that sexual behavior -a natural rewarding stimulus- can prolong, whereas sex deprivation can block the maintenance of morphine-seeking behaviors. Sexual experience may induce functional and morphological alterations in brain reward areas particularly the mesolimbic system similar to repeated exposure to abused drugs which can affect morphine-seeking behaviors.

Impact of Curcumin on Ovarian Reserve After Tubal Ligation: an Experimental Study

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of tubal ligation (TL) via modified Pomeroy method on ovarian reserve and to determine the role of curcumin (Curcuma longa [Indian saffron]) against ovarian reserve decrement after TL. Forty-eight albino Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups: (1) Control group: a sham operation was performed (n = 12), (2) Tubal ligation group: TL was performed (n = 12), (3) TL+DMSO group: 1 mL/day dimethyl sulfoxide was used for 50 days after TL, (4) TL+Curc group: 100 mg/kg/day curcumin dissolved in DMSO was administrated for 50 days after TL. Pre-operatively and on post-operative day 50, blood samples were collected for AMH evaluation, and oophorectomy was performed for histological and immunohistochemical examinations of ovaries in all groups. No difference in the basal AMH levels was found among the groups (p = 0.249). Compared to the basal, AMH levels were lower in the control, TL, and TL+DMSO groups (p = 0.003, p = 0.004, and p < 0.001, respectively) but not different in the TL+Curc group (p = 0.503) on post-operative day 50. No significant differences in the number of primary, preantral, antral, atretic follicles, and corpus luteum among the groups (p > 0.05) were found. The percentage of granulosa cells stained for caspase-3 in antral follicles and the corpus luteum was higher in the TL+Curc group than in the control and TL groups ([antral follicles; p < 0.01 for both groups], [corpus leteum; p = 0.009 and 0.002 for the control and TL groups, respectively]). It seems that TL does not decrease ovarian reserve and curcumin might have a positive effect on ovarian reserve in the setting of TL.

Impact of tubal ligation on ovarian reserve as measured by anti-Müllerian hormone levels: a prospective cohort study

BACKGROUND

Tubal ligation (TL) is considered a very efficient contraceptive method. However, some patients complain of a variety of postoperative symptoms. The objective of this study was to investigate whether ovarian reserve may change after tubal ligation.

STUDY DESIGN

This was a prospective cohort study of 80 fertile women who underwent TL. Ovarian reserve was evaluated by measuring pre- and postoperative (1 year after surgery) serum anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) levels and transvaginal antral follicular count (AFC). Potential confounding factors were age, body mass index (BMI), smoking, surgical technique and prior contraceptive methods. The Wilcoxon test was used to compare pre- and postoperative (12 months) AMH and AFC, and simple and multiple linear regression were used to evaluate confounding factors.

RESULTS

Fifty-two patients completed the study protocol. The median AMH level was 1.43 ng/mL (interquartile range 0.63-2.62) preoperatively and 1.30 ng/mL (interquartile range 0.53-2.85) after 12 months (p=.23). The mean AFC was 8.0 (interquartile range 5.0-14.0) and 11.0 (interquartile range 7.0-15.0) before and after TL, respectively (p=.12). These differences were not statistically significant. Use of a hormonal contraceptive method prior to TL was significantly associated with a postoperative increase in AMH.

CONCLUSIONS

This study suggests that ovarian reserve is not altered by TL.