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Background: The qualitative analysis of adipose tissue (AT) is an exciting area for research and clinical applications in several diseases and it is emerging along with the quantitative approach to research on overweight and obese people. While the importance of steroid metabolism in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) has been reported, limited data exists on the effective roles of AT in pregnant women suffering from PCOS. The aim of this study was to determine association of fatty acid (FA) profiles with expression of 14 steroid genes in abdominal subcutaneous AT of PCOS vs. non-PCOS pregnant women. Materials and Methods: In this case-control study, the AT samples of 36 non-PCOS pregnant women and 12 pregnant women with PCOS (3:1 ratio control: case) who underwent cesarean section were collected. Relationship of expressing gene targets and different features were performed using Pearson correlation analysis on the R 3.6.2 software. The ggplot2 package in R tool was used to draw the plots. Results: Age (31.4 and 31.5 years, P=0.99), body mass index (BMI) (prior pregnancy 26 and 26.5 kg.m-2, P=0.62) and at delivery day (30.1 and 31, P=0.94), gestational period (264 and 267 days, P=0.70) and parity (1.4 and 1.4, P=0.42) of non-PCOS and PCOS pregnant women were similar. Expression of steroidogenic acute regulator (STAR) and 11β-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11BHSD2) in non-PCOS pregnant women showed the highest association with eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, C20:5 n-3, r=0.59, P=0.001) and (r=0.66, P=0.001), respectively. In the all participants, STAR mRNA level showed the greatest association with the EPA fatty acid concentration (P=0.001, r=0.51). Conclusion: Our results showed a link between the genes involved in steroid metabolism and fatty acids in AT of pregnant women, especially for omega-3 FA and the gene involved in the first step of steroidogenesis in subcutaneous AT. These findings warrant further studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gene activation of HOX clusters is an early event in embryonic development. These genes are highly expressed and active in the vertebrate nervous system. Based on the presence of retinoic acid response elements (RAREs) in the regulatory region of many of the HOX genes, it is deduced that retinoic acid (RA) can influence epigenetic regulation and consequently the expression pattern of HOX during RA-induced differentiation of embryonic model systems. In this investigation, the expression level as well as the epigenetic regulation of several HOX genes of the 4 A-D clusters was analyzed in human embryonic stem cells, and also through their neural induction, in the presence and absence of RA. Expression analysis data significantly showed increased mRNA levels of all examined HOX genes in the presence of RA. Epigenetic analysis of the HOX gene regulatory regions also showed a significant decrease in methylation of histone H3K27 parallel to an absolute preferential incorporation of the demethylase UTX rather than JMJD3 in RA-induced neural differentiated cells. This finding clearly showed the functional role of UTX in epigenetic alteration of HOX clusters during RA-induced neural differentiation; the activity could not be detectable for the demethylase JMJD3 during this developmental process. Key words: HOX, retinoic acid, H3K27-demethylase, UTX, JMJD. L'activation genique des grappes HOX est un evenement precoce du developpement embryonnaire. Ces genes sont fortement exprimes et actifs dans le systeme nerveux des vertebres. Sur la base de la presence d'un element de reponse a l'acide retinoique (RARE) dans la region regulatrice de plusieurs genes HOX, on a deduit que l'acide retinoique peut influencer le controle epigenetique et, consequemment, le patron d'expression des HOX au cours de la differenciation de systemes modeles embryonnaires induite par l'AR. Dans cette recherche, le niveau d'expression ainsi que la regulation epigenetique de plusieurs genes HOX des quatre grappes A-D ont ete analyses dans des cellules souches embryonnaires humaines (hESC) ainsi qu'au cours de l'induction neurale, en presence ou en absence d'acide retinoique. L'analyse des donnees d'expression montrait un accroissement significatif des niveaux d'ARNm de tous les genes HOX examines en presence d'AR. L'analyse epigenetique des regions regulatrices des genes HOX a aussi montre une diminution significative de la methylation de l'histone H3K27 parallelement a une incorporation preferentielle absolue de la demethylase UTX plutot que JMJD3 chez les cellules neurales differenciees par l'AR. Ce resultat montrait clairement le role fonctionnel de UTX dans la modification epigenetique des grappes HOX lors de la differenciation neurale induite par l'AR, l'activite de la demethylase JMJD3 etant indetectable durant ce processus developpemental. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles: HOX, acide retinoique, H3K27-demethylase, UTX, JMJD3., Introduction Chromatin structure is usually defined by a set of posttranslational modifications of histones, such as methylation, acetylation, phosphorylation, and ubiquitination (Kouzarides 2007; Bannister and Kouzarides 2011). Two counteracting groups [...]

Differentiation of stem cells from a pluripotent to a committed state involves global changes in genome expression patterns, critically determined by chromatin structure and interactions of chromatin-binding proteins. The dynamics of chromatin structure are lightly regulated by multiple epigenetic mechanisms such as histone modifications and the incorporation of histone variants. In the current work, we induced neural differentiation of a human embryonal carcinoma stem cell line, NTERA2/NT2, by retinoic acid |RA) treatment, primarily according to two different methods of adherent cell culture (rosette formation) and suspension cell culture (EB formation) conditions, and histone modifications and variations were compared through these processes. Western blot analysis of histone extracts showed significant changes in the acetylation and methylation patterns of histone H3, and expression level of the histone variant H2A.Z, after RA treatment in both protocols. Using chromatin immu no precipitation (ChIP) coupled with real-time PCR, it was shown that these epigenetic changes occurred on the regulatory regions of 4 marker genes (Oct4, Nanog, Neslih, and Pax6) in a culture condition dependent manner. This report demonstrates the dynamic interplay of histone modification and variation in regulating the gene expression profile, during stem cell differentiation and under different culture conditions. Key words: epigenetic, H2A.Z, NTERA2, neural differentiation, retinoic acid. La differencials on des cellules souches d'un etat pluripotent a un etat determine implique des changements globaux dans les patrons d'expression du genome, determines de fagon critique par la structure de la chromatine et les interactions des proteines de liaison de la chromatine. La dynamique de la structure de la chromatine est fortement regulee par de multiples mecanismes epigenetiques tels les modifications d'histones et I'incorporation des variants d'histones. Dans ce travail, nous avons induit une differencial ion neurale des cellules de la lignee de carcinome embryonnaire humaine NTERA2/NT2 par un traitement a l'acide retinoique (AR),en suivant deux methodes differentes de culture cellulaire, soit sur des cellules adherentes (formation de rosettes) ou en suspension (formation de CE), et les modifications/variations d'histones ont ete comparees au cours de ces processus. L'analyse d'extraits d'histones en buvardage par Western ont montre des changements significatifs dans les patrons d'acetylation/methy]ation de l'histone H3, et dans les niveaux d'expression du variant d'histone H2A.Z apres un traitement a 1'AR, dans les deux protocoles. A 1'aide d'une immunoprecipitation de la chromatine (ChIP) couplee a une PCR en temps reel, nous montrons que ces changements epigenetiques surviennenl dans les regions regulatriees de quatre genes marqueurs (Oct4, Nanog, Nesiin et Pax6) de (aqon dependanie des conditions de culture. Ce rapport demonlre l'inleraction dynamique de la modification/variation des histones dans la regulation du profil d'expression genique, lors de la differenci ation des cellules souches el sous differentes conditions de culture. Mots-cles : epigenetique. H2A.Z, NTERA2, differenci ation neurale, acide retinoique. [Traduit par la Redaction], Introduction Embryonal carcinoma (EC) cells derived from germ cell tumors are valuable tools for investigating embryogenesis and developmental biology processes. The advantage of reproducibility and rapid in vitro expansion and [...]

Context: Ovarian tissue transplantation is performed to preserve fertility in patients undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy. However, the ischemia-reperfusion injury which occurs after the ovarian tissue transplantation causes follicular depletion and apoptosis. l-Carnitine has antioxidant and anti-inflammation properties. Aims: Therefore, we aimed to investigate the beneficial effect of l-carnitine on mouse ovaries following heterotopic autotransplantation. Methods: Mice were randomly divided into three groups (six mice per group): control, autografted and autografted + l-carnitine (200 mg/kg daily intraperitoneal injections). Seven days after ovary autografting, the serum levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), total antioxidant capacity, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-10 were measured. Ovary histology, serum concentrations of progesterone and estradiol were also measured 28 days after autotransplantation. Data were analysed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey test, and the means were considered significantly different at P < 0.05. Key results: In the autografted + l-carnitine group, the total volume of the ovary, the volume of the cortex, the number of follicles, the serum concentrations of IL-10, estradiol and progesterone significantly increased compared to the autografted group. In the autografted + l-carnitine group, serum concentrations of IL-6, TNF-α and MDA were significantly decreased compared to the autografted group. Conclusions: Our results indicated that l-carnitine can ameliorate the consequences of ischemia-reperfusion on the mice ovarian tissue following autotransplantation. Implications: l-carnitine improves the structure and function of transplanted ovaries. Ovarian tissue transplantation is performed to preserve fertility in patients undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy. l-carnitine protects the transplanted ovaries against ischemia-reperfusion injury and improves their structure and function. More studies are needed to evaluate the effects of this drug during transplantation, regarding the effective dose and duration of l-carnitine treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]