Spermatozoa acquire the capacity to fertilize the ovum and display motility during their passage through the epididymis. The epididymal duct, a long convoluted tubule with very active absorption and secretory functions, which is divided into three major regions: the proximal (caput), the middle (corpus), and the distal (cauda) epididymis. The composition of the luminal environment in the epididymis is tightly regulated and plays an important role in male fertility by providing functions, including maturation, concentration, transport, and storage of spermatozoa. Aquaporins are a family of integral membrane proteins that transport water, glycerol, urea and ions. They are abundantly expressed in many tissues, including the kidney, the brain, the eye and the respiratory tract. The present review focuses on the distribution and function of aquaporins in the epididymis.

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The point of Clark is recommended as the point of intramuscular injection into the gluteal muscle as there is low risk of superior gluteal nerve damage. However, the posterior superior iliac spine is hard to feel when the injection point must be located. Therefore, in this study, we determined a novel intramuscular injection point that is located at the intersection of the horizontal line from the anterior superior iliac spine and the perpendicular line from the middle portion of the trochanter major. This new point can be more easily determined than the point of Clark. In women who are 21∼25 years old, we examined if this new point is suitable as an intramuscular injection point by comparing it with the point of Clark and measuring the site of the superior gluteal artery, along with the superior gluteal nerve using an ultrasound blood flowmeter. The novel point was approximately 1.2cm inferior to the point of Clark. The novel point was posterior to the point of Clark in 17 /26 subjects. The ratios of blood flow detected at the novel point and the point of Clark were 2/17 and 1/17, respectively. Since the blood flow was detected at both superior and inferior areas of the both points, the superior and inferior branches of the superior gluteal artery run in a V-shape, sandwiching them in between. These results indicate that our novel intramuscular injection point in the gluteus medius is suitable for injection like the point of Clark, and 1cm higher than the novel site is safer because it is closer to the point of Clark. Moreover, it is important to determine the site of the superior gluteal artery using an ultrasound blood flowmeter in order to perform intramuscular injection.

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Aim: Peritonitis was evoked when we administered chitooligosaccharide into the peritoneal cavity in a former long-term study. We clarified that a cell mass was formed on the diaphragm. In this study we observed the cell masses on the diaphragm using an electron microscope and we aimed to determine whether the peritonitis occurred after administration of glucose (monosaccharide) and sucrose (disaccharide), which have lower molecular weights than chitooligosaccharide. into the peritoneal cavity. Methods: We administered a 0.2 ml solution containing 1% chitooligosaccharide, glucose, or sucrose into the peritoneal cavity of C57BL/6 male mice once a day for 14 days. After a 14-day observation period we euthanized the mice, observed the peritoneal cavities, gathered the cell masses, and observed them with an electron microscope. Results: A large quantity of white ascites was present in the peritoneal cavity and the white masses were observed on the diaphragm of the mice treated with chitooligosaccharide. These masses were not observed in mice treated with glucose or sucrose. The white cell masses formed on the peritoneal area where the lymphatic vessel under the diaphragmatic serosa developed and the lymphatic stomata opened. The mass was comprised of a large number of inflammatory cells, with collagen fibers among the cells. Blood vessels also were observed in the mass. Therefore, the masses appeared to be the milky spot. Collagen was exposed from the intercellular space between mesothelial cells. Cells, which travelled through the lymphatic stomata, were observed. Cells that had phagocytized chitooligosaccharide were observed in enlarged lymphatics. Conclusion: Considered from these findings, it was suggested that chitooligosaccharide was phagocytized by cells in the milky spot and the lymphatics, evoking an inflammatory reaction.

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During hemodialytic treatment, the blood is exposed to a different condition from blood vessels, because the blood is circulating in a hemodialysis circuit. In the hemodialysis circuit, the blood coagulates faster. Therefore, treatment of anticoagulants is necessary in order to inhibit blood coagulation in the hemodialysis circuit. Treatment of a large amount of anticoagulants, however, causes hemorrhagic diathesis. Thus, development of materials for circuit that prevent blood coagulation is expected. To examine blood coagulation in the hemodialysis circuit, we carried out the experiments to assess the activation and effects of blood coagulation factors caused by the contacts of blood with test tubes made of glass (glass and siliconized glass) and polymer (polytetrafluoroethylen/perfluoroalkoxyethylen, polymethylpentene, polypropylene and polystyrene). As a result, whole blood coagulation time of a polymer group was significantly delayed (p<0.05) compared to that of a glass group. Furthermore, a thrombin-like activity in the glass group was significantly higher (p<0.05) than that of the polymer group. The formation of the thrombin-like substances on the wall of test tubes likely affected the shortening of the blood coagulation time. Thrombin-like substances might adhere on the wall of the test tube by binding with heparin-binding site while the enzymatic site for a coagulant is probably still active. Therefore, heparin probably could not inhibit the thrombin-like activity bound on the glass wall. Results of our experiments suggest that the polymer materials, especially polypropylene and polystyrene, are blood compatible compared with other materials.

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We investigated the correlations among superficial veins and brachial arteries in 132 cadaveric arms, as well as the courses of aberrant arteries to confirm safe venous puncture sites in the cubital fossa. The superficial brachial artery appeared in 27 cases (21%), which were classified into types III, V, VIII, and XVI based on the classification of Adachi (1928). The superficial antebrachial artery appeared in 2 cases (2%), an ulnar superficial antebrachial artery was in 1 (1%) and a median superficial antebrachial artery in the other (1%). The superficial brachial artery passed deeply under the unification part of the basilic and median cubital veins, and deeply along the ulnar side of the median cubital vein. The ulnar superficial antebrachial artery passed deeply along the ulnar side of the median cubital vein and deeply along the median antebrachial vein. The median superficial antebrachial artery passed deeply along the basilic vein of forearm and then deeply along the median antebrachial vein. The courses and frequency of appearance of the superficial brachial and superficial antebrachial arteries were mostly in agreement with previous reports. At the time of venous puncture, caution is needed regarding the courses of the brachial and superficial brachial arteries running deep along the ulnar side of the median cubital vein. In addition, it is important to be aware that the superficial antebrachial artery passes deeply along the ulnar side of the median cubital and median antebrachial veins. Safe venous puncture sites are considered to be between the middle of the median cubital vein and the separation part of the cephalic and median cubital veins. In the case of venous puncture, it is important to check the pulsation of an artery enough by examination and manipulation.

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This study investigated the influence of oral administration of isoflavone-daidzein on the cutaneous wound healing process in female ovariectomized mice. Eight-week-old female mice were divided into groups of ovariectomized mice and mice administered daidzein after an ovariectomy. Two full-thickness wounds on the dorsum were made in mice in both groups. There was no significant difference between wound areas of the two groups from wounding to healing during 15 days. The area in the group administered daidzein tended to be smaller than that in the ovariectomized group during the inflammatory phase 4 and 5 days after wounding . The rate of re-epithelialization in the group administered daidzein tended to be higher than that in the ovariectomized group in the inflammatory phase on day 3 (40.7 ± 17.6% and 21.0 ± 16.8%, respectively). Therefore, the administration of daidzein under lack of estrogen is expected to reduce the inflammation period and promote re-epithelialization.

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Since heparin specifically binds to the kringle domain of urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA), it was asked whether heparin affects cellular adhesion and locomotion. Heparin-coated plastic dish was utilized for the investigation of such a heparin-mediated cellular behavior. Heparin allowed to inhibiting the adhesion of cells in a dose-dependent manner as well as the growth (number of colonies per dish) and the size of colonies (number of cells per colony). When uPA was removed from cell surface receptors by the treatment with acidic buffer solution, heparin was not capable of binding, indicating that heparin selectively interacts with uPA but not with uPA receptor. Competition experiments showed that the binding of fluorescence labeled-heparin to cells was abolished in the presence of excess amount of unlabeled heparin. Highly metastatic carcinomatous cells (Detroit 562) express both uPA and its receptor, so that the cellular locomotion on plastic dishes was suppressed by the action of heparin suggesting that heparin is able to strongly inhibit the invasion and metastasis of tumor cells.

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The point of Clark is recommended as the point of intramuscular injection into the gluteal muscle as there is a low risk of superior gluteal nerve damage. However, the posterior superior iliac spine is hard to palpate when the injection point is being identified. Therefore, in this study, a novel intramuscular injection point was defined that was located at the intersection of the horizontal line from the anterior superior iliac spine and the perpendicular line from the middle portion of the trochanter major. The point of Clark was compared with the novel point on 29 right buttocks in cadavers (53-94 years old) that medical students dissected. Then, in 19 out of 29 cadavers, the positional relationship between the injection point and either the superior gluteal nerve or the superior gluteal vessels was observed by insertion of needles into these points. Results showed that this novel point was always located 1.3 cm inferior in men and 1.1 cm inferior in women to the point of Clark, and the injection point did not overlap the superior branch of the superior gluteal nerve in any cases using either our novel point or the point of Clark. The ratios of insertion into the inferior branches of the superior gluteal nerve at the point of Clark and our novel point were 2/19 and 4/19, respectively; the superior branch of the superior gluteal artery at the point of Clark and our novel point were 1/19 and 0/19, respectively. As these results indicate, our novel point provides an appropriate site for intramuscular injection of the gluteal muscle as safe as the point of Clark.

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Surface electromyogram (EMG) from trapezius regions of four healthy women were measured both immediately before and after exercise, and in recovery. Simultaneously, subjective symptoms in the area of the neck and shoulders were investigated. EMG data were analyzed by Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and power spectrums were obtained. Based on these data, myogenic potential topography was composed in 6 bits resolution. Resultant myogenic potential topography recorded from human trapezius muscle was used to visually explain shoulder stiffness. Two women who complained of shoulder stiffness showed remarkable electrical change in the low frequency domain (1∼3 Hz, 10∼15 Hz) of EMG after exercise, while two subjects who had no complaints of shoulder stiffness did not. These results suggest that muscle activity represented by high potential in the low frequency domain is possibly a specific phenomenon for shoulder stiffness.

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