BACKGROUND In couples presenting with retrograde ejaculation refractory to medical treatment, the first choice of fertility treatment should be Assisted Reproductive Techniques using rapidly purified spermatozoa retrieved from post-ejaculatory urine. The Hotchkiss technique and modified variants are simple and efficient for retrieving sperm from the bladder. We developed a new protocol, includi...

Mammalian sperm must hyperactivate in order to fertilize oocytes. Hyperactivation is characterized by highly asymmetrical flagellar bending. It serves to move sperm out of the oviductal reservoir and to penetrate viscoelastic fluids, such as the cumulus matrix. It is absolutely required for sperm penetration of the oocyte zona pellucida. In order for sperm to hyperactivate, cytoplasmic Ca level...

BACKGROUND There is a growing awareness of potential problems in exposing sperm to polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) to slow their motility, a procedure commonly used prior to ICSI. The study presented here evaluates an alternative product for slowing sperm motility, which contains hyaluronate, a substance found naturally in the reproductive tract. METHODS Computerized sperm motility analysis was us...

PURPOSE We compared vasoepididymostomy to microsurgical epididymal sperm aspiration and intracytoplasmic sperm injection for treatment of epididymal obstruction secondary to vasectomy. MATERIALS AND METHODS Results in patients who underwent vasoepididymostomy for vasectomy reversal at our institution were compared to those reported previously for microsurgical epididymal sperm aspiration and ...

Oocytes inseminated by intracytoplasmic sperm injection using fresh ejaculated or freeze-dried rhesus macaque sperm showed similar activation, sperm aster assembly, and male-female pronuclear apposition rates.

Sex preselection that is based on flow-cytometric measurement of sperm DNA content to enable sorting of X- from Y-chromosome-bearing sperm has proven reproducible at various locations and with many species at greater than 90% purity. Offspring of the predetermined sex in both domestic animals and human beings have been born using this technology since its introduction in 1989. The method involv...

BACKGROUND The intracytoplasmic sperm injection procedure ending with total fertilization failure is very distressfull event for both the clinician and the patient. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to identify independent factors which could be used to identify total fertilization failure before the day of intracytoplasmic sperm injection. MATERIALS AND METHODS This was a retrospective s...