Reproduction Abstracts

High mobility group box protein 1 (HMGB1) plays an important role in onset and progression of autoimmune diseases. This nucleosomal protein is actively secreted during inflammation and acts as a late phase cytokine. Targeting HMGB1 by ethyl pyruvate (EP) significantly reduces its pro-inflammatory effects. Experimental autoimmune orchitis (EAO) serves as a rodent model to study autoimmune based chronic testicular inflammation characterized by elevated levels of pro-inflammatory...

Introduction: Bacterial epididymitis is a common disorder in urological outpatient clinics and usually results from ascending infections originating in the urinary tract often involving uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) as causative pathogen. In 40% of patients with acute epididymitis, impaired semen parameters persist even after antibiotic treatment. Members of the TGFβ cytokine superfamily, such as activin A, have recently been identified in the epididymis and are c...