Bacterial composition along the digestive tract of the Horned Screamer (Anhima cornuta), a tropical herbivorous bird.

OBJECTIVE

This study explores the possible relation between cervical infections with Ureaplasma urealyticum (UU) and Mycoplasma hominis (MH) and the occurrence of recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA).

PATIENTS AND

METHODS

132 patients with RSA (observation group) and 96 normal pregnancy volunteers undergoing planned abortions (control group) were selected successively and enrolled in the investigation. Cervical secretion samples were obtained for each subject. Bacterial cultures were started to detect UU, MH and other bacterial infections, and fluorescence quantitative PCR was used to detect gene copy number in chorion and decidual tissues. Additionally, ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) was used to detect anticardiolipin antibody (ACA) to rate positivity of Immunoglobulin M (IgM) and IgG in secretions, and Western blot was applied to quantify the expression levels of Interleukin (IL)-6, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), prostacyclin (PGI2) and bax/bcl-2.

RESULTS

Our results showed the UU, MH, and overall bacterial infection rate of chorionic and decidual tissues, and the gene copy number of UU, MH were higher in the observation group than those in the control group (p<0.05). Moreover, the ACA-IgM and IgG positive rates in secretions of the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group (p<0.05). Finally, the expression levels of IL-6, TNF-α, PGI2, and bax/bcl-2 were higher than those in the control group as well (p<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Our results support the notion that RSA might be associated with UU and MH infection, could influence the occurrence of other bacterial infections and could stimulate ACA expression, inflammatory response, thrombogenesis, and factors associated with cell apoptosis, increasing the risk for an abortion during pregnancy.