The sperm-specific protamine-like (PL) components PL-I, PL-II, and PL-III from the sperm of the bent-nose clam Macoma nasuta have been isolated and characterized for the first time. These proteins coexist in the sperm nuclei with a small percentage of a full histone complement. All of them have a very similar amino acid composition, following what seems to be the general composition prototype f...

OBJECTIVE Sperm morphology plays an important role in infertility, especially in cases of defects in the heads of spermatozoa. Tapered-head or elongated-head spermatozoa are examples of morphological abnormalities. The aim of this study was to compare the semen parameters, levels of protamine deficiency, and frequency of apoptosis between patients with normozoospermia and those with teratozoosp...

background:   objective: the aim of this study was to investigate the harmful effects of sodium arsenite on sperm parameters and the antioxidant effects of vit.e on sperm anomalies in sodium arsenite treated rats.   materials and methods: adult male rats were divided into 4 groups: control, sodium arsenite (8 mg/kg/day), vit.e (100 mg/kg/day) and sodium arsenite+vit.e. oral treatments were perf...

I t is well know that the nuclei of spermatogenic cells experience one of the most extremely marked chromatin changes known in cells. At the end of spermatogenesis, the histones are removed in many species and the DNA is condensed by the highly positively charged protamines forming highly compact nucleoprotamine complexes. In the human mature sperm cell, the nucleoprotamine complexes condense m...

During spermiogenesis in Eledone cirrhosa a single protamine substitutes for histones in nuclei of developing spermatids. This protein displays a peculiar primary structure. It contains 22.6 mol% cysteine residues (19 cysteines in 84 residues). This makes it the most cysteine-rich protamine known. The proportion of basic residues is relatively low (arginine 36.9 mol%, lysine 19.0 mol%). The pro...

Background: Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) can be considered the solstice in vitro insemination technique because it has powerfully allowed the treatment of male factor infertility, but in this procedure, except visual morphological selection, there is no standardization for sperm selection. Recently, hypo osmotic swelling test (HOST) has been proposed to have the potential to select i...

Key ConceptsThe two-dimensional Two-Tailed Comet assay (TT-comet) protocol is a valuable technique to differentiate between single-stranded (SSBs) and double-stranded DNA breaks (DSBs) on the same sperm cell.Protein lysis inherent with the TT-comet protocol accounts for differences in sperm protamine composition at a species-specific level to produce reliable visualization of sperm DNA damage.A...

BACKGROUND Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is the primary treatment for male infertility. However for this procedure, with the exception of visual morphological selection, there is no standardization for sperm selection. Recently, the hypo-osmotic swelling test (HOST) has been proposed to potentially select sperm with intact membranes. The aim of this study is to evaluate the ability of...