Sperm chromatin integrity has been being recognized as an important factor in male fertility. During normal fertilization, high quality sperm with intact chromatin are selected through natural selection in journey from vagina to fallopian tube. However, using Assisted Reproductive Techniques, particularly ICSI, the natural selection is bypassed. Therefore sperm with DNA breakage have the opport...

Integrity of the sperm membrane, of which phosphatidyl serine (PS) plays a central role, is essential for fertilization. The externalisation of PS (EPS) occurs during capacitation and the acrosome reaction. EPS, from the inner to the outer membrane, is considered as a sign of early apoptosis. Therefore, EPS may have a dual function in sperm. This study has evaluated the relationship between EPS...

To date, more than 65 species of Brazilian bees (of the superfamily Apoidea) have been cytogenetically studied, but only a few solitary species have been analyzed. One example is the genus Melitoma Lepeletier & Serville, 1828, for which there is no report in the literature with regard to cytogenetic studies. The objective of the present study is to analyze the chromosome number and morphology o...

In the present work, we analysed the male meiosis, the content and distribution of heterochromatin and the number and location of nucleolus organizing regions in Microtomus lunifer (Berg, 1900) by means of standard technique, C- and fluorescent bandings, and fluorescent in situ hybridization with an 18S rDNA probe. This species is the second one cytogenetically analysed within the Hammacerinae....

Semen samples collected from 28 male partners of infertile couples were divided into three equal aliquots and prepared with three selected media, such as PureSperm (Nidacon, Gothenburg, Sweden), Sil-Select Plus (Fertipro, Beernem, Belgium) and SpermGrad (Vitrolife, Gothenburg, Sweden). The differences in mean percentages of semen parameters were assessed by repeated measures analysis. Correlati...

Eight species belonging to five true bug families were analyzed using DAPI/CMA3-staining and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with telomeric (TTAGG)n and 18S rDNA probes. Standard chromosomal complements are reported for the first time for Deraeocoris rutilus (Herrich-Schäffer, 1838) (2n=30+2m+XY) and Deraeocoris ruber(Linnaeus, 1758) (2n=30+2m+XY) from the family Miridae. Using FISH, ...

Background Sperm preparation before assisted reproductive techniques is very important for obtaining successful fertilization and pregnancy. During ICSI technique, sperms are selected based on viability and morphology. But this selection did not guarantee integrity of sperm DNA. Therefore, novel sperm selection procedures are introduced for selection of sperm with low DNA damage. One of these p...

Evidence suggests that human sperm chromatin anomalies adversely affect reproductive outcomes and infertile men possess substantially amount of sperm with chromatin anomalies than fertile men. Routine semen analysis evaluates parameters such as sperm motility and morphology, but does not examine the nuclear DNA integrity of spermatozoa. It has been suggested that altered nuclear chromatin struc...

Tropidacris Scudder, 1869 is a genus widely distributed throughout the Neotropical region where speciation was probably promoted by forest reduction during the glacial and interglacial periods. There are no cytogenetic studies of Tropidacris, and information allowing inference or confirmation of the evolutionary events involved in speciation within the group is insufficient. In this paper, we u...

Cytogenetic analyses were performed on fishes of the genus Hypostomus (Hypostomus ancistroides (Ihering, 1911), Hypostomus strigaticeps (Regan, 1908), Hypostomus regani (Ihering, 1905), and Hypostomus paulinus (Ihering, 1905)) from the seven tributaries of the Paranapanema River Basin (Brazil) by means of different staining techniques (C-, Ag-, CMA3- and DAPI-banding) and fluorescence in situ h...