Tehran University Medical Journal

Background: Hyaluronan has an important role on the permeability and motility of sperm and the interaction of gametes and these can play a considerable role on the fertility rate. Therefore, in this study, we assessed the effect of different doses of hyaluronan on the morphology, motility, vitality and fertility rate of mice.

Methods: We used 40 mice (6-8 week) in this study which twenty of them were male and the rest were female. The sperm of each male mouse were divided into four groups. The group 1 (control): They were maintained in RPMI media without any hyaluronan supplementation for 2 hour. Hyaluronan with the doses of 750, 1000 and 1250 µg/ml were added into RPMI media in groups 2, 3 and 4, respectively. After 2 hour. incubation, the numbers of sperms were assessed, using haemocytometer. Also, their morphology with papanicolaeu staining and their vitality with Eosin B dye were assessed. As well as sperms motility measured under inverted microscope by observation and fertility rate evaluated after routine IVF by counting two-cell stage embryos.

Results: Our results demonstrated that, the dose of 750 µ g/ml has the greatest effect on the motility, vitality and fertility rate of sperms. The effect of dose of 1000 µ g/ml also was positive on them. On the other hand, none of these doses had any effect on sperm morphology.

Conclusion: Hyaluronan may have an influence on motility, vitality and fertility rate of sperms and the dose of 750µ g/ml had a significant effect on these factors.

Background: Kawasaki disease (KD) is an acute vasculitis in children. Eosinophilia, a reflection of the host's immune response that can cause tissue damage, has been associated with KD, with eosinophils preferentially accumulating in the microvasculature. In early-stage Kawasaki disease (KD), lesions (perivasculitis and vasculitis) first form in the microvessels, which can then extend to the larger vessels and result in coronary artery aneurysms, possibly leading to myocardial infarction even in young children. Overall, the prevalence of coronary artery aneurysms in children with Kawasaki disease is about 10-18%, which is much higher among those not treated early in the course of the illness.  We performed this study to gain a better understanding of the initial pathogenesis of KD and to assess the relationship between eosinophilia and coronary artery disease.

Methods:  The data from forty-eight patients at Vali-asr Hospital of the Tehran University of Medical Sciences (1996-2006) were included in this cross-sectional descriptive analysis. The presence and degree of coronary artery disease was assessed by echocardiography. Data was analyzed via Fisher's exact test and student's t-test using SPSS software, v. 11.5.

Results: Eosinophilia was seen in 10 cases (22%) and cardiac lesions were observed in 19 cases (41%). The frequency of microvessel lesions was significantly lower in patients with eosinophilia (10% with eosinophilia versus 50% without eosinophilia, p<0.03). The frequency of microvessel lesions was lower in males than in females (35 vs. 44%, respectively), although this was not significant. We found no correlation between the frequency of microvessel lesions and age.

Conclusions: In spite of the controversies regarding eosinophilia and microvessel lesions, in this study the number of circulating eosinophils was associated with fewer cardiac lesions. Comparative studies are needed to determine the exact relationship.