Maria Christina Werneck de Avellar

• Abstract

  Our cross-disciplinary research proposal aims to increase our understanding of the basic biochemistry and pharmacology that underpins human health, fertility and reproduction. One in six couples are affected by infertility and in ~ 45% the infertility is (AU)

  Defining the relationship between sex hormones, protein quality control and male fertility, AP.R SPRINT

• Abstract

  Stress has profound effects on emotional and sexual behavior by affecting hormonal responses. People exposed to stress develop a number of affective disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a debilitating condition frequently comorbid with other psychiatric illness, sexual dysfunction, and impaired functioning. The basolateral amygdala, critical to emotional behavior, i…

  Expression, behavioral effects and fertility parameters of beta-defensins and neuropeptide Y in a mouse model of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) related to neurosteroids profile, AP.R
• IV Workshop on Male Reproductive Biology, AO.R

(Only some records are available in English at this moment)

• Abstract

  Social isolation stress is recognized as a major morbidity risk factor in humans, exerting damaging effects for physical and mental health. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) occurs as a result of experiencing life-threatening, traumatic events, with involuntary re-experiencing trauma, avoidance symptoms, and distortions of cognition and emotional arousal. This is a neuropsychiatric con…

  Pre-clinical model of social isolation in the discovery of the role of allopregnanolone in the inflammatory physiopathology of reproductive and non-reproductive tissues, BP.IC

• Abstract

  The epididymis is an essential organ of the male reproductive system for the maturation, transport and storage of a viable spermatozoa for oocyte fertilization. Its embryonic precursor, the mesonephric duct (or Wolff's duct), differentiates through tubular-epithelial morphogenesis that is primarily induced and dependent on androgens. Thus, abnormalities of this event can result in inferti…

  Investigating the mechanism of action and function of innate immunity components in the morphogenesis of the epididymis, BP.IC

• Abstract

  The protein disulfide isomerase (PDI) family is a member of the thioredoxin superfamily of redox proteins. It is composed of several multifunctional molecular chaperones that are involved with protein post-translational modifications. They differ greatly not only in amino acid sequence and molecular mass but also in domain composition and subcellular compartments location. Although mostly…

  Protein dissulfide isomerases (PDIs): relationship with sex steroid hormones and epididymal function, BP.MS

(Only some records are available in English at this moment)

• Abstract

  In the last years, our research group has identified different beta-defensins, key components of innate immunity, with a distinct expression pattern in the rat Wolffian duct (WD), the embryonic precursor of epididymis. We showed that the beta-defensin SPAG11C (sperm associated antigen 11 C) is an androgen-regulated mesenchymal factor with a role in epididymal morphogenesis. The research p…

  Intra- and extracellular fates of the beta-defensin SPAG11C transiently expressed in cultured cells and the influence of a potential protein partner, BE.EP.MS

• Abstract

  The gene of human sperm-associated antigen 11 (hSPAG11) is localized within a ²-defensin cluster in the chromosome 8p23. Alternative splicing mechanism involving the differential recruitment of 2 promoters and multiple exons results in 7 distinct transcripts in humans (hSPAG11A, B, C, D, E, G and H). While a role for SPAG11 in innate host defence and reproduction has emerged, the mechanis…

  Analysis of the effect of heterologous expression of hSPAG11B alternative splice variants in the development of inflammatory arthritis in the knee joint of wild-type and F2rl1 (PAR2) knockout mice, BE.EP.PD