Tehran University Medical Journal

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This study was conducted to show the comparison of efficacy and survival of amniotic membrane grafts and homologous dura grafts.
Methods and Materials: In this study, ten dogs (age 6-9 months & weight 15 lo 20 kg) have been chosen. The study was a single blind clinical trial. The dogs have been assigned into two groups by random allocation method. The amniotic membrane (A.M) was taken from a placenta belonging to a 38 weeks fetus delivered in a cesarean section surgery. In one group the graft was a peace of dura mater and in the other one the graft was a homologous dura graft. Maintenance of all cases was the same. Forty-five days later, another surgeon who was not aware of the assignment, conducted the second exploratory surgery for evaluation of the results.
Results: None of cases in two groups had any infection, abscess formation, fistula, CSF leakage or any toxic status. The healing process was normal in both groups.
Conclusion: There seems to be no difference between the (A.M) grafts and homologous dura in the repairmen of dura mater. This is expected to occur only if the pregnant woman is carefully tested for the presence of certain clinical conditions and the preparation of A.M is contemplated in an ideal environment.

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Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE AR-SA MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Background: Human amniotic membrane (HAM) forms the inner wall of the membranous sac that surrounds and protects the embryo during gestation. The main advantages of amniotic membrane transplantation (AMT) in the treatment of bacterial keratitis are its epithelial bandage properties. Previous studies have documented the presence of some antimicrobial proteins and peptides in amniotic fluid such as lactoferrin, lysozyme, bactericidal or permeability increasing protein, calprotectin (MRP8/14 protein complex), LL37, and neutrophil defensins (Human Neutrophil Peptides, HNP 1-3). Furthermore, the amniotic membrane does not express HLA-A, B, C or DR surface antigens, which may help avoid rejection after its transplantation. Thus, it can be used as a biological immune barrier. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the amniotic membrane's healing properties in rabbits with pseudomonas keratitis.
Methods : By using an animal model, 14 rabbits were divided into two groups of controls and cases. A syringe was used to inoculate the corneal stroma of the animals by Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC27853. After 20 hours pseudomonas keratitis was created and amniotic membrane was transplanted to the cornea of the case group. The infiltration size were observed on the first, third and seventh days after the experiment.
Results : Corneal perforation was seen in the controls (P<0.001) but amniotic membrane prevented perforation in the case group (P=0.02).
Conclusion: Transplantation of amniotic membrane in the primary stages of pseudomonas keratitis treatment remarkably prevents corneal perforation and it can be used to control the disease process.

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Background: Heart failure is one of the most common cardiovascular disorders and is considered a chronic, progressive and debilitating disorder. The medical treatment of this disease is accompanied by many problems. Today, stem cells are being used increasingly to reduce the problems of heart failure treatments. Since pro-inflammatory cytokines play an important role in the prognosis and progression of cardiovascular disease, the present study aimed to investigate the effect of intravenous injection of human amniotic membrane mesenchymal stem cells on the levels of interleukins 4 and 12 in the serum of male rats in the heart failure model.
Methods: This is an experimental study that was conducted from October 2018 to May 2019 in the Physiology Research Center of Iran University of Medical Sciences. In this study, 28 male wistar rats (180-200 gr) were randomly divided into four groups: control group, heart failure group, heart failure group that received culture medium and heart failure group that received mesenchymal stem cells by intravenous injection. After 30 days, echocardiography was done and then serum levels of interleukin 4 and 12 were measured in these groups by Elisa test.
Results: The results of this study showed that intravenous injection of human amniotic membrane mesenchymal stem cells into male rats with heart failure, improved echocardiographic parameters such as ejection fraction (EF) and fractional shortening (FS) in the cell injection group compared to the heart failure group (P<0.05). Also, the levels of inflammatory cytokines IL-4 and IL-12 were significantly reduced in the cell injection group compared to rats with the heart failure group (P<0.05).

Conclusion: Due to the improvement of cardiac parameters and the reduction level of inflammatory cytokines in this study, it seems that human amniotic membrane mesenchymal stem cells play an important role in improving heart failure by reducing the level of inflammation.