International Journal of Medical Laboratory

16-20

Authors: Fakhredin Saba* Ph.D., Fatemeh Sayyadipoor M.Sc.

Background and Aims: Thyroid hormones have an important role in metabolism and regulation of the red blood cells (RBCs). Thyroid dysfunction induces various effects on blood cells such as anemia through reducing the oxygen metabolism. For the first time, we aimed to determine the effects of severity activation of hypothyroidism on RBCs indices in patients with hypothyroidism. Materials and Methods: This study was performed on 79 patients with hypothyroidism. Initially patients' TSH level was determined by immunoassays method, and then according to TSH ranges (0.3-5.5 µIU/mL), patients were divided into two moderate hypothyroidism (45 individuals) (TSH 6-10 µIU/mL) and marked hypothyroidism (34 individual) (TSH>10 µIU/mL) groups. Then, the complete blood count was measured by cell counter. Results and conclusions: Data analysis revealed a statistically difference between the two groups of the patient including moderate and marked hypothyroidism in RBCs count (4.46 versus 4.04 mil/L), hemoglobin (12.8 versus 12.3 g/dl) and hematocrit (39.8 versus 38.0 %) respectively. It seems that severely reduced hormones of the thyroid may result in markedly decrease in RBCs count, hemoglobin and hematocrit. These findings are consistent with the fact that reduced thyroid hormones may cause anemia frequently through the effect on cytokines involving erythropoiesis such as erythropoietin.

33-42

Authors: Mohsen Arbabi Ph.D., Sara Soleimani Jevinani* M.Sc., Hossein Nahrevanian Ph.D., Hossein Hooshyar Ph.D., Ahmad Reza Esmaeili Rastaghi Ph.D., Mahdi Delavari Ph.D., Fatemeh Sadat Ghasemi M.Sc.

Background and Aims: The aim of this study is to clarify nitric oxide (NO)-production by spleen and the importance of spleen in malaria infection in murine model. Materials and Methods: Thirty outbred NMRI female mice were divided into four groups, Group I: No intervention (Healthy control), Group II: With splenectomy (Healthy test), Group III: No intervention, Inoculation of contaminated blood (Infected control), Group IV: With splenectomy, inoculation of contaminated blood (Infected test). The Parasitemia was counted every other day through Giemsa stain examination of animal blood. The parasitemia and survival rates, hepatosplenomegaly and body weight were recorded. After terminal anesthesia, plasma and liver/spleen suspensions were assessed by the Griess micro assay for measurement of NO-levels. Results: At the end of the experiment (on day 16), the parasitemia was 26.99±0.46 % among the group of non-splenectomized animals (Group III) compared with 31.25±0.72% among the group of splenectomized animals (Group IV). The average parasitemia among the groups at the end of the experiment was statistically significant (Group III, Group IV: p= 0.0002). Survival rate was statistically significant (p<0.0001). NO concentrations in plasma, liver and spleen were determined. The amount of NO in plasma increased significantly in the infected groups (p=0.0003). Conclusions: Although, splenectomy decreased immune function against rodent malaria, it did not solely changed the pattern of antimalarial activity via NO-pathway. It is concluded that NO possibly comes from several sources rather than spleen during rodent malaria disease and is released into circulation, which may replace NO shortage by splenic cells to combat malaria parasites.

51-62

Authors: Sahere Rouzbehan M.Sc., Nahid Davoodian* Ph.D., Ali Jamshidi M.D., Ali Atashabparvar M.D., Najmeh Davoodian Ph.D

Background and Aims: Human adipose tissue-derived stem cells (hASCs) are considered as an attractive source of regenerative stem cells, mainly because of their higher proliferation rate, more accessibility and hepatocyte like properties as compared to mesenchymal stem cells isolated from other tissues. Numerous studies have described the beneficial use of adipose tissue-derived stem cells for generating hepatocyte-like cells. However, due to the lack of appropriate culture conditions, most of the produced cells exhibit poor functionality. The aim of the present study was to establish a new protocol for the efficient hepatic differentiation of hASCs. Materials and Methods: hASCs were cultured in hepatic differentiation medium containing fibroblast growth factor 4, hepatocyte growth factor, dexamethasone and oncostatin M using a three-step protocol up to 21 days. Then, the functionality of the treated cells was evaluated by analyzing specific hepatocyte genes and biochemical markers at various time points. Results: A significant upregulation in albumin, alpha-fetoprotein, cytokeratin 18 and hepatocyte nuclear factor-4α expressions was observed in differentiated cells relative to day 1 of differentiation protocol. Moreover, the finding of glycogen deposits increased urea production and positive immunofluorescence staining for albumin and alpha-fetoprotein in hepatocyte-like cells suggesting that most of the cells differentiate into hepatocyte-like cells. Conclusions: Our report has provided a simple protocol for differentiation of hASCs into more functional hepatocyte-like cells.

71-76

Authors: Fatemeh Montazeri Ph.D., Ali Mohammad Foroughmand Ph.D. Seyed Mehdi Kalantar* Ph.D., Abbas Aflatoonian M.D., Ali Mohammad Khalili Ph.D.

Background and Aims: One of the major subjects for improving in vitro fertilization (IVF) outcome is the quantity and quality of retrieved oocytes. In vitro maturation (IVM) provides an opportunity for using immature oocytes routinely discarded in clinics. This study aimed at evaluating the quality of embryos derived from in vivo and rescue in vitro matured oocytes. Materials and Methods: Totally, 462 immature oocytes as cases and 466 mature (MII) oocytes as controls were included for study of their developmental competence. Oocytes underwent intracytoplasmic sperm injection insemination and then denuded oocytes were microscopically assessed regarding cytoplasmic and nuclear maturity and quality. Results: The morphological assessments showed fertilization rate of 60.9 and 61.4%, the embryo formation rate of 86.7% and 90.9% and arresting rate of 27.3% and 25.6% for the case and control oocytes, respectively. Evaluating embryo quality in the cleavage stage indicated that 63% of the embryos in the case group and 68% of the embryos in the control group were of good quality. There was no significant difference between fertility rate and arresting rate of oocytes matured in both groups, although the embryo formation rate and the quality of embryos differed significantly. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that IVM is a valuable and practical option for patients who had to cancel IVF treatment cycles because of severe responses or resistance to routine hormonal therapies or those with low functional ovarian reserve.