Increased homocysteine levels in serum are typical features of neurodegenerative brain diseases including hydrocephalus. The most frequent therapeutic approach consists of the insertion of a shunt, connecting the brain ventricles to an alternative drainage site. To decide whether the patient should undergo this, the lumbar drainage test is usually carried out to distinguish patients who can benefit from the shunt insertion. In searching for other potential biochemical markers for shunt indication we determined homocysteine levels in CSF during the lumbar drainage test. Homocysteine in CSF was measured during the 5-day lumbar drainage test in 27 patients with normal-pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) and in 25 patients with excluded hydrocephalus. A novelized gas chromatography method with flame ionization detection (GC-FID) was developed and evaluated. During the first two days of lumbar drainage, the levels of CSF homocysteine in NPH patients were significantly higher compared to the controls, while on the fifth day, the homocysteine levels in patients with hydrocephalus reached the level of controls. Determination of CSF homocysteine in patients with confirmed or suspected hydrocephalus may serve as an independent marker for deciding on their further treatment strategy., L. Sosvorová, J. Bešťák, M. Bičíková, M. Mohapl, M. Hill, J. Kubárová, R. Hampl., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The general population is potentially exposed to many chemicals that can affect the endocrine system. These substances are called endocrine disruptors (EDs), and among them bisphenol A (BPA) is one of the most widely used and well studied. Nonetheless, there are still no data on simultaneous measurements of various EDs along with steroids directly in the seminal fluid, where deleterious effects of EDs on spermatogenesis and steroidogenesis are assumed. We determined levels of BPA and 3 estrogens using LC-MS/MS in the plasma and seminal plasma of 174 men with different degrees of infertility. These men were divided according their spermiogram values into 4 groups: (1) healthy men, and (2) slightly, (3) moderate, and (4) severely infertile men. Estradiol levels differed across the groups and body fluids. Slightly infertile men have significantly higher BPA plasma and seminal plasma levels in comparison with healthy men (p<0.05 and p<0.01, respectively). Furthermore, seminal BPA, but not plasma BPA, was negatively associated with sperm concentration and total sperm count (-0.27; p<0.001 and -0.24; p<0.01, respectively). These findings point to the importance of seminal plasma in BPA research. Overall, a disruption of estrogen metabolism was observed together with a weak but significant impact of BPA on sperm count and concentration., J. Vitku, L. Sosvorova, T. Chlupacova, R. Hampl, M. Hill, V. Sobotka, J. Heracek, M. Bicikova, L. Starka., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Hormones exert many actions in the brain. Their access and effects in the brain are regulated by the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Hormones as other substances may enter the brain and vice versa either by paracellular way requiring breaching tight junctions stitching the endothelial cells composing the BBB, or by passage through the cells (transcellular way). Hormones influence both ways through their receptors, both membrane and intracellular, present on/in the BBB. In the review the main examples are outlined how hormones influence the expression and function of proteins forming the tight junctions, as well as how they regulate expression and function of major protein transporters mediating transport of various substances including hormone themselves., R. Hampl, M. Bičíková, L. Sosvorová., and Obsahuje bibliografii