-
Theriogenology Jun 2021Canine (Canis familiaris) pseudocyesis, pseudopregnancy, false pregnancy or nervous lactation is a frequent syndrome observed in non-pregnant, late diestrous or early... (Review)
Review
Canine (Canis familiaris) pseudocyesis, pseudopregnancy, false pregnancy or nervous lactation is a frequent syndrome observed in non-pregnant, late diestrous or early anestrous females that is characterized by different degrees of mammary gland enlargement, maternal behavior and lactation. Further education about this frequent canine physiological event is still necessary to ensure optimal diagnosis and treatment strategies. Thus, the aim of this article was to review and update the physiopathology, physical and behavioral signs, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of pseudocyesis in bitches in which it is a clinical problem.
Topics: Animals; Dogs; Female; Lactation; Pregnancy; Pseudopregnancy
PubMed: 33799011
DOI: 10.1016/j.theriogenology.2021.03.014 -
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews Feb 2023Placentophagia, ingestion of placenta and amniotic fluid, usually during parturition, is a behavioral feature of nearly all nonaquatic, placental mammals, and is a nexus... (Review)
Review
Placentophagia, ingestion of placenta and amniotic fluid, usually during parturition, is a behavioral feature of nearly all nonaquatic, placental mammals, and is a nexus for several interlocking behavioral phenomena. Placentophagia has not been typical of human cultures, but in recent years, some women in affluent societies have engaged in it, thereby bringing publicity to the behavior. First, we summarized benefits of placentophagia for nonhuman mammals, which include increased attractiveness of neonates, enhanced onset of maternal behavior, suppression of pseudopregnancy, and enhancement of opioid hypoalgesia by Placental Opioid-Enhancing Factor (POEF), a benefit that may extend well outside the context of parturition. The research on POEF in animals was discussed in detail. Then we discussed placentophagia (placentophagy) in humans, and whether there is validity to the claims of various benefits reported primarily in the pro-placentophagy literature, and, although human afterbirth shows POEF activity, the POEF effect has not yet been tested in humans. Finally, we discussed the general possible implications, for the management of pain and addiction, of isolating and characterizing POEF.
Topics: Animals; Infant, Newborn; Female; Pregnancy; Humans; Analgesics, Opioid; Placenta; Postpartum Period; Pain; Maternal Behavior; Mammals
PubMed: 36509207
DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104992 -
Autophagy Jan 2024ACTB: actin beta; AREG: amphiregulin; ATP6V0A4: ATPase, H transporting, lysosomal V0 subunit A4; Baf A1: bafilomycin A; BSA: bovine serum albumin; CLDN1: claudin 1;...
ACTB: actin beta; AREG: amphiregulin; ATP6V0A4: ATPase, H transporting, lysosomal V0 subunit A4; Baf A1: bafilomycin A; BSA: bovine serum albumin; CLDN1: claudin 1; CTSB: cathepsin B; DEGs: differentially expressed genes; E: 17β-estradiol; ESR: estrogen receptor; GATA2: GATA binding protein 2; GLA: galactosidase, alpha; GO: gene ontology; HBEGF: heparin-binding EGF-like growth factor; IGF1R: insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor; Ihh: Indian hedgehog; ISH: in situ hybridization; LAMP1: lysosomal-associated membrane protein 1; LCM: laser capture microdissection; Le: lumenal epithelium; LGMN: legumain; LIF: leukemia inhibitory factor; LIFR: LIF receptor alpha; MSX1: msh homeobox 1; MUC1: mucin 1, transmembrane; P: progesterone; PBS: phosphate-buffered saline; PCA: principal component analysis; PPT1: palmitoyl-protein thioesterase 1; PGR: progesterone receptor; PSP: pseudopregnancy; PTGS2/COX2: prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthase 2; qPCR: quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction; SP: pregnancy; TFEB: transcription factor EB.
Topics: Pregnancy; Female; Humans; Proteostasis; Hedgehog Proteins; Autophagy; Uterus; Epithelium; Cyclooxygenase 2; Blastocyst; Lysosomes
PubMed: 37584546
DOI: 10.1080/15548627.2023.2247747 -
The Primary Care Companion For CNS... Apr 2023
Topics: Female; Pregnancy; Humans; Pseudopregnancy; Transgender Persons; Delusions; Transsexualism
PubMed: 37058715
DOI: 10.4088/PCC.22cr03343 -
Animal Frontiers : the Review Magazine... Jun 2023
PubMed: 37324213
DOI: 10.1093/af/vfad027 -
Metabolic Brain Disease Dec 2022Approximately 40% of women with epilepsy experience perimenstrual seizure exacerbation, referred to as catamenial epilepsy. These seizures result from cyclic changes in...
Approximately 40% of women with epilepsy experience perimenstrual seizure exacerbation, referred to as catamenial epilepsy. These seizures result from cyclic changes in circulating progesterone and estradiol levels and there is no effective treatment for this form of intractable epilepsy. We artificially increased progesterone levels and neurosteroid levels (pseudo-pregnancy) in adult Swiss albino female mice (19-23 g) by injecting them with pregnant mares' serum gonadotropin (5 IU s.c.), followed by human chorionic gonadotropin (5 IU s.c.) after 46 h. After this, ferulic acid (25, 50, 100 mg/kg i.p.) treatment was given for 10 days. During treatment, progesterone, estradiol, and corticosterone levels were estimated in blood on days 1, 5, and 10. Neurosteroid withdrawal was induced by finasteride (50 mg/kg, i.p.) on treatment day 9. Twenty-four hours after finasteride administration (day 10 of treatment), seizure susceptibility was evaluated with the sub-convulsant pentylenetetrazol (PTZ) dose (40 mg/kg i.p.). Four to six hours after PTZ, animals were assessed for depression like phenotypes using tail-suspension test (TST). Four to six hours following TST, animals were euthanized, and discrete brain parts (cortex and hippocampus) were separated for estimation of norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine as well as glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) enzyme activity. PMSG and HCG treatment elevated progesterone and estradiol levels, assessed on days 1, 5, and 10 causing a state of pseudo-pregnancy. Treatment with finasteride increased seizure susceptibility and depression-like characteristics possibly due to decreased progesterone and elevated estrogen levels coupled with decreased monoamine and elevated corticosterone levels. Ferulic acid treatment, on the other hand, significantly decreased seizure susceptibility and depression like behavior, possibly because of increased progesterone, restored estradiol, corticosterone, monoamines, and GAD enzyme activity. We concluded anticonvulsant effect of ferulic acid in a mouse model of catamenial epilepsy, evidenced by favourable seizure attenuation and curative effect on the circulating progesterone, estradiol, and corticosterone levels along with restorative effect on GAD enzyme activity and monoamine levels.
Topics: Adult; Female; Animals; Horses; Mice; Humans; Progesterone; Finasteride; Neurosteroids; Corticosterone; Epilepsy; Pentylenetetrazole; Seizures; Estradiol
PubMed: 35932441
DOI: 10.1007/s11011-022-01054-w -
Industrial Psychiatry Journal 2022Delusional disorders are common psychiatric disorders, but a delusion of pregnancy is a rare condition. Four cases that presented at a single tertiary care psychiatry...
Delusional disorders are common psychiatric disorders, but a delusion of pregnancy is a rare condition. Four cases that presented at a single tertiary care psychiatry center with delusion of pregnancy as a part of different psychological disorders are illustrated here. These cases were seen over a period of 6 months and had varied presentations and associated psychopathologies. Three of the four patients showed rapid recovery to treatment, but one patient was lost to follow-up. The heterogeneity in the presentation, sociodemographic profile of the patients and even in the symptom profile and response to treatment in this condition is highlighted and discussed in this case series.
PubMed: 36419711
DOI: 10.4103/ipj.ipj_166_21 -
Frontiers in Immunology 2023High-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) is a non-histone nuclear protein and can be extracellularly secreted to induce sterile inflammation. Although uterine deletion of HMGB1...
INTRODUCTION
High-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) is a non-histone nuclear protein and can be extracellularly secreted to induce sterile inflammation. Although uterine deletion of HMGB1 causes implantation and decidualization defects, how secreted HMGB1 is involved in mouse early pregnancy is still unknown.
METHODS
Mouse models, mouse primary endometrial cells and human endometrial cell lines were used in this study. Both immunofluorescence and Western blot were performed to show the localization and relative level of HMGB1 and acetylated HMGB1, respectively. Relative mRNA levels were analyzed by real time RT-PCR.
RESULTS
The secreted HMGB1 was detected in uterine lumen fluid in mouse periimplantation uterus. There is an obvious difference for secreted HMGB1 levels in uterine fluid between day 4 of pregnancy and day 4 of pseudopregnancy, suggesting the involvement of blastocysts during HMGB1 secretion. Trypsin is clearly detected in mouse blastocyst cavity and in the supernatant of cultured blastocysts. Trypsin significantly stimulates HB-EGF production through activating PAR2 and ADAM17. Uterine injection of PAR2 inhibitor into day 4 pregnant mice significantly reduces the number of implantation sites. HB-EGF released from luminal epithelium can induce mouse in vitro decidualization. The conditioned medium collected from trypsin-treated luminal epithelium is able to induce in vitro decidualization, which is suppressed by EGFR inhibitor. Intrauterine injection of glycyrrhizin (HMGB1 inhibitor) can significantly inhibit mouse embryo implantation. We also showed that exogenous HMGB1 released from human epithelial cells are able to induce human in vitro decidualization.
CONCLUSION
Trypsin can induce decidualization of stromal cells via PAR2-HMGB1-ADAM17-HB-EGF from luminal epithelium.
Topics: Pregnancy; Female; Mice; Animals; Humans; Heparin-binding EGF-like Growth Factor; Trypsin; HMGB1 Protein; Embryo Implantation; Uterus
PubMed: 36761729
DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1024706 -
Brain, Behavior, and Immunity Jul 2024Postpartum depression (PPD) is a severe mental disorder that affects approximately 10---20% of women after childbirth. The precise mechanism underlying PPD pathogenesis...
Postpartum depression (PPD) is a severe mental disorder that affects approximately 10---20% of women after childbirth. The precise mechanism underlying PPD pathogenesis remains elusive, thus limiting the development of therapeutics. Gut microbiota dysbiosis is considered to contribute to major depressive disorder. However, the associations between gut microbiota and PPD remain unanswered. Here, we established a mouse PPD model by sudden ovarian steroid withdrawal after hormone-simulated pseudopregnancy-human (HSP-H) in ovariectomy (OVX) mouse. Ovarian hormone withdrawal induced depression-like and anxiety-like behaviors and an altered gut microbiota composition. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) from PPD mice to antibiotic cocktail-treated mice induced depression-like and anxiety-like behaviors and neuropathological changes in the hippocampus of the recipient mice. FMT from healthy mice to PPD mice attenuated the depression-like and anxiety-like behaviors as well as the inflammation mediated by the NOD-like receptor protein (NLRP)-3/caspase-1 signaling pathway both in the gut and the hippocampus, increased fecal short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) levels and alleviated gut dysbiosis with increased SCFA-producing bacteria and reduced Akkermansia in the PPD mice. Also, downregulation of NLRP3 in the hippocampus mitigated depression-like behaviors in PPD mice and overexpression of NLRP3 in the hippocampal dentate gyrus induced depression-like behaviors in naïve female mice. Intriguingly, FMT from healthy mice failed to alleviate depression-like behaviors in PPD mice with NLRP3 overexpression in the hippocampus. Our results highlighted the NLRP3 inflammasome as a key component within the microbiota-gut-brain axis, suggesting that targeting the gut microbiota may be a therapeutic strategy for PPD.
Topics: Animals; Female; Dysbiosis; Hippocampus; Mice; Gastrointestinal Microbiome; NLR Family, Pyrin Domain-Containing 3 Protein; Disease Models, Animal; Fecal Microbiota Transplantation; Depression, Postpartum; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Depression; Neuroinflammatory Diseases; Behavior, Animal; Anxiety; Brain-Gut Axis; Inflammation; Ovariectomy
PubMed: 38599497
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbi.2024.04.002 -
Domestic Animal Endocrinology Jan 2022Although lynxes and domestic cats are both felids, their luteal life cycles differ. As in many species, corpora lutea (CLs) of domestic cats regress after pregnancy or... (Review)
Review
Although lynxes and domestic cats are both felids, their luteal life cycles differ. As in many species, corpora lutea (CLs) of domestic cats regress after pregnancy or pseudopregnancy. By contrast, CLs of lynxes do not functionally regress following the cycle of their formation. They stay physiologically active and persist for several years. To obtain an improved understanding of the life cycle of both species, we comparatively studied the CLs of these species in detail. In this review, we summarize the similarities and differences of their CLs regarding sex steroid and prostaglandin generation and receptors. The most evident differences were visible in the CLs of lynxes, which persist from previous cycles, compared with CLs of lynxes and domestic cats from the recent luteal cycle. We assume that these differences could indicate processes ensuring long-term luteal survival and functionality, for example, by high estrogen production/metabolism or by antioxidative effects.
Topics: Animals; Cats; Corpus Luteum; Female; Life Cycle Stages; Lynx; Pregnancy; Progesterone; Prostaglandins; Steroids
PubMed: 34688216
DOI: 10.1016/j.domaniend.2021.106689