Angiogenesis is an essential process for proper functioning of the female reproductive system and for successful pregnancy realization. The multitude of factors required for physiological angiogenesis and the complexity of regulation of their temporal-spatial activities contribute to aberrations in human fertilization and pregnancy outcomes. In this study, we reviewed the current knowledge of the temporal expression patterns, functions, and regulatory mechanisms of angiogenic factors during foliculogenesis, early implantation/placentation and embryo development, as well as recurrent spontaneous abortions. Angiogenic factors including vascular endothelial growth factors and angiopoietins have documented roles in the development of primordial follicles into mature antral follicles. They also participate in decidualization, which is accompanied by the creation of an extensive network of vessels in the stromal bed that support the growth of the embryo and the placenta, and maintain early pregnancy. During placentation angiogenic and angiomodulatory cytokines, T and B lymphocytes and macrophages affect angiogenesis in a context-dependent manner. Defects in angiogenesis at the maternal-fetal interface contribute to miscarriage in humans. The establishment of more polymorphisms in the genes involved in angiogenesis/vasculogenesis, and their pathological phenotype and expression could give opportunities for prediction, creating a therapeutic strategy, and treatment of diseases related to female reproductive health and problematic conception.

The study was conducted in order to evaluate effectiveness of the treatment of bacterial vaginosis (BV) with different therapeutic regimes according to recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO). During a one-year period (February 2000-February 2001) the Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) Center was visited by 482 women aged 14-51. The diagnosis of BV was established by standard methods: Amsel's clinical criteria and Gram stain of vaginal discharge. The first-line treatment was oral Metronidazole 2 g single dose. Second line was Metronidazole 500 mg twice daily orally for 7 days or oral Clindamycin 300 mg twice daily for seven days. BV was confirmed in 74 women (15.4%). Most often it was observed in women aged 17-30 years of age. Thirty-three (44.6% of total) were young women 14-21 years of age. Thirty-one (42%) women received a follow-up examination and of those, 11 (38.7%) needed a repeat treatment for BV due to unsatisfactory results of this treatment. It is concluded that treatment of BV with standard methods was not always effective with no significant difference between women under 21 years and older women found in regards to response to treatment. Besides antibiotic treatment, the so-called Probiotics (Lactobacillus acidophilus) can be taken into consideration as an alternative treatment. Additional research about the therapeutic effect of this type of drugs is needed.

The aim of our study was to determine the type and frequency of chromosomal aberrations and polymorphisms in men with different degrees of spermatogenic failure in comparison to men with normozoospermia, in order to find correlations between cytogenetic findings and the abnormal results of semen analysis. In our study, we performed cytogenetic analysis in 901 infertile men, divided into five groups according to semen analysis—normozoospermia (86), asthenozoospermia (394), oligoasthenozoospermia (182), severe male factor (100), and azoospermia (139). The frequency of polymorphisms was similar in all groups (11–16%, without significant differences). The frequency of numerical and structural aberrations increases with the degree of the spermatogenic failure (3.5% in normozoospermia, 5.6% in asthenozoospermia, 9.8% in oligoasthenozoospermia, 9% in severe male factor, and 13.5% in azoospermia). We found a significantly higher incidence of numerical chromosomal aberrations in severe male factor (7%) and azoospermia (9.3%). Oligoasthenozoospermia occured in 45% of cases with translocation, compared to 20% in the group with a normal karyotype. We revealed that chromosomal translocations are tightly associated with oligoasthenozoospermia, whereas numerical chromosomal aberrations—with severe male factor and azoospermia. The impact of chromosome polymorphisms on male infertility should be studied in greater detail.

Introduction: Poor ovarian responders are the most challenging patients in reproductive medicine and no successful treatment has been proposed. Androgens are thought to play an important role during early folliculogenesis and diminished levels are associated with decreased ovarian sensitivity to follicle-stimulating hormone. This study aimed to determine whether pretreatment with testosterone improves the results in poor responders undergoing in vitro fertilisation (IVF). Materials and methods: This observational pilot study enrolled 33 poor responders undergoing IVF. Eleven patients were pretreated with 250 mg intramuscular testosterone and compared to a control group of 22 patients. The participants were tested for free testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, sex hormone binding globulin, and anti-mullerian hormone (AMH). Results: The two groups had similar baseline characteristics. Significant improvement was reached in the hormones free testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, and sex hormone binding globulin in the testosterone-pretreatment group. No difference was detected in antral follicle count (5.06 versus 4.24); AMH (0.51 versus 0.53), mature oocytes (2.2 versus 2.32), and the number of embryos (1.2 versus 1.33) between the study and control groups, respectively. There was a slow improvement in fertilisation rate but without any significance (62.97% versus 57.61%). However, the cancellation rate of the ovarian stimulation was much greater in the control group (18.18%) in comparison with the study group (0.0%). Pregnancy rate (PR) in the testosterone group was higher than controls (PR per cycle: 27.3% versus 4.6; p=0.09). Conclusion: Based on the limited number of patients studied, pretreatment with testosterone seems to improve PR and cancellation rate in poor responders but failed to affect antral follicle count, AMH, and the number of mature oocytes and embryos. Given these results, further research would provide more certainty.