In situ saphenous vein bypass grafts: angiographic evaluation and interventional repair of complications

In situ saphenous vein grafts are being used with increasing frequency for bypass procedures involving the femoral and popliteal arteries. Complications of these procedures include anastomotic stenoses and persistent arteriovenous fistulae that may result in failure of the graft. Balloon angioplasty and embolotherapy with detachable balloons were employed successfully in three or four recent cases of patients with complications from in situ grafts. Tailored angiography is essential for evaluating in situ grafts, and interventional techniques are extremely useful for managing complications.     

Cerebral lipid deposition in aged apolipoprotein-E-deficient mice.

To assess the influence of age and diet on cerebral pathology in mice lacking apolipoprotein E (apoE), four male apoE knockout mice (epsilon -/-), and five male wild-type (epsilon +/+) littermate controls were placed on a high-fat/high-cholesterol diet for 7 weeks beginning at 17 months of age. All four aged knockout mice developed xanthomatous lesions in the brain consisting mostly of crystalline cholesterol clefts, lipid globules, and foam cells. Smaller xanthomas were confined mainly to the choroid plexus and ventral fornix in the roof of the third ventricle, occasionally extending subpially along the choroidal fissure and into the adjacent parenchyma. More advanced xanthomas disrupted adjoining neural tissue in the fornix, hippocampus, and dorsal diencephalon; in one case, over 60% of one telencephalic hemisphere, including nearly the entire neocortex, was obliterated by the lesion. No xanthomas were observed in aged wild-type controls fed the high-fat/high-cholesterol diet. Brains from 42 additional animals, fed only conventional chow, were examined; 3 of 15 aged (15- to 23-month-old) apoE knockout mice developed small choroidal xanthomas. In contrast, no lesions were observed in five young (2- to 4-month-old) apoE knockout mice or in any wild-type controls between the ages of 2 and 23 months. Our findings indicate that disorders of lipid metabolism can induce significant pathological changes in the central nervous system of aged apoE knockout mice, particularly those on a high-fat/high-cholesterol diet. It may be fruitful to seek potential interactions between genetic factors and diet in modulating the risk of Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders in aged humans.     

The effects of antioxidant supplementation during Percoll preparation on human sperm DNA integrity

The integrity of sperm DNA is crucial for the maintenance of genetic health. A major source of damage is reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation; therefore, antioxidants may afford protection to sperm DNA. The objectives of the study were, first, to measure the effects of antioxidant supplementation in vitro on endogenous DNA damage in spermatozoa using the single cell gel electrophoresis (comet) assay and, second, to assess the effect of antioxidant supplementation given prior to X-ray irradiation on induced DNA damage. Spermatozoa from 150 patients were prepared by Percoll centrifugation in the presence of ascorbic acid (300, 600 microM), alpha tocopherol (30, 60 microM), urate (200, 400 microM), or acetyl cysteine (5, 10 microM). DNA damage was induced by 30 Gy X-irradiation. DNA strand breakage was measured using the comet assay. Sperm DNA was protected from DNA damage by ascorbic acid (600 microM), alpha tocopherol (30 and 60 microM) and urate (400 microM). These antioxidants provided protection from subsequent DNA damage by X-ray irradiation. In contrast, acetyl cysteine or ascorbate and alpha tocopherol together induced further DNA damage. Supplementation in vitro with the antioxidants ascorbate, urate and alpha tocopherol separately has beneficial effects for sperm DNA integrity.      

Detection of chromosomes and estimation of aneuploidy in human spermatozoa using fluorescence in-situ hybridization

The development and application of fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH) has opened the way for comprehensive studies on numerical chromosome abnormalities in human spermatozoa. FISH can be rapidly applied to large numbers of spermatozoa and thus overcomes the major limitation of karyotyping spermatozoa after penetration of zona-free hamster oocytes. The simultaneous hybridization of two or more chromosome-specific probes to spermatozoa and subsequent detection of the bound probes using different fluorescent detection systems enables two or more chromosomes to be localized simultaneously in the same spermatozoon and provides a technique for undertaking reasonable estimates of aneuploidy. The most commonly used probes are those which bind to the centromeric region of specific chromosomes. Most studies to date have concentrated on estimating aneuploidy in spermatozoa from normospermic men, although reports are beginning to appear on aneuploidy in spermatozoa from subfertile and infertile men. Multi- probe FISH studies have generally reported disomy (hyperhaploidy) estimates of 0.05-0.2% per chromosome. There is preliminary evidence that some chromosomes such as X, Y and 21 are predisposed towards higher rates of non-disjunction during spermatogenesis. There are also suggestions of inter-donor variability in aneuploidy frequencies for specific chromosomes, although this requires confirmation in larger studies. While FISH is clearly a powerful technique that has many applications in reproductive medicine, it must also be realized that it does have limitations and the technology itself is still evolving and has yet to be fully validated on spermatozoa.