Spermatogenesis is an essential stage in human male gamete development, which is regulated by many Y chromosome specific genes. Most of these genes are centred in a specific region located on the long arm of the human Y chromosome known as the azoospermia factor region (AZF). Deletion events are common in Y chromosome because of its peculiar structural organization. Astonishingly, among the sev...

Ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase L3 (UCHL3) belongs to the group of deubiquitinating enzymes and plays a part in apoptosis of germ cells and the differentiation of spermatocytes into spermatids. However, the exact role of UCHL3 in human spermatogenesis and sperm function remains unknown. Here we examined the level and activity of UCHL3 in spermatozoa from men with asthenozoospermia (A), oligoasth...

background: anti-mullerian hormone (amh) is constantly secreted during menstrual cycles and may offer several advantages over traditional biomarkers of ovarian reserve. objective: to assess the relationship of anti-mullerian hormone (amh) values, which are used to evaluate ovary reserves, with oocyte and embryo quality and with art outcomes in patients undergoing intra-cytoplasmic sperm injecti...

abstract background: for infertile women aged over 35 years, failure of the zp (zona pellucida) to rupture is believed to be associated with a decreased implantation rate in in vitro fertilization (ivf) or intra cytoplasmic sperm injection (icsi). objective: in this research, laser assisted hatching (lah) was offered to patients with advanced maternal age to evaluate a possible benefit. materia...

In human fertilization, the sperm centrosome nucleates a radial array of microtubules called the sperm aster. The sperm aster is responsible for apposition of male and female pronuclei, and later gives rise to the first meiotic spindle. The objective of this study was to determine microtubule assembly and chromatin configuration in rabbit oocytes following intracytoplasmic injection with human ...

In pigs, intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) efficiency is still poor. The inadequate decondensation of the sperm chromatin, its transformation into the male pronucleus (MPN) together with the subsequent inability to activate the oocyte, seem to be the main causes of the low ICSI efficiency. In order to improve the MPN formation we took two different approaches. On the one hand, the in vitr...

OBJECTIVE To investigate fertilization and embryo quality of dysmorphic mature oocytes with specific morphological abnormalities obtained from intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). METHODS The fertilization rate (FR) and embryo quality were compared among 58 dysmorphic and 42 normal form oocytes (control 1) obtained from 35 consecutive ICSI cycles, each of which yielded at least one dysmor...

Sperm chromatin/DNA damage can be measured by a variety of assays. However, it has been reported that these tests may lose prognostic value in Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) cycles when assessed in post-prepared samples, possibly due to the normalizing effect promoted by sperm preparation procedures. We have recently implemented a modified version of the Diff-Quik staining assay that al...

BACKGROUND Isolation of sperm suitable for ICSI from fresh or frozen-thawed testicular sperm extraction (TESE) can be facilitated by mechanical or enzymatic processing of the samples. METHODS A retrospective multicentre study was initiated to compare these two approaches. Eleven German centres provided data on their TESE cycles performed during the period 1996/1997. Quality of retrieved sperm...

Background Failed fertilization occurs 1-3% in the infertile couples. Failure of oocyte activation (OA) is mainly attributed to failed fertilization. ICSI alone artificial oocyte activation (AOA) is only treatment approach for these individuals. Three procedures are introduced for AOA: chemical, mechanical and electrical. Most of the clinical Centers have commonly used ionomycin for activation ...