The present paper evaluates the influence of various technical factors when preparing human spermatozoa to be tested for their ability to penetrate zona-free hamster ova. Higher in vitro fertilization rates were obtained after sperm selection by "swim-up" migration, 4-h incubation, sperm dilution to a concentration of 2.5 X 10(6) spermatozoa/ml, and observation of the oocytes 8 h after insemina...

Previously, we showed that pyridines and pyrazines in cigarette smoke inhibit oviductal functioning in vitro in nanomolar and picomolar doses. The purpose of this study was to determine the lowest observable adverse effect levels (LOAELs) of phenols, quinolines, indoles, benzene, and 2-cyclopenten-1-ones found in mainstream smoke solutions on ciliary beat frequency, oocyte pickup rate, and infu...

The aim of this study was to assess the predictive value of the hypoosmotic sperm swelling test. Good correlations were observed between the percentage of spermatozoa undergoing swelling and the percentage motility both in normal (r = 0.68; p < 0.001) and infertile patients (r = 0.65; p < 0.001). In contrast, sperm swelling did not significandy correlate either with sperm oocyte fusion (assesse...

Glutathione (GSH) is thought to play critical roles in oocyte function including spindle maintenance and provision of reducing power needed to initiate sperm chromatin decondensation. Previous observations that GSH concentrations are higher in mature than immature oocytes and decline after fertilization, suggest that GSH synthesis may be associated with cell cycle events. To explore this possib...

AIM To evaluate the treatment of male infertility with a strong natural antioxidant, in addition to conventional treatment. METHODS Using a double blind, randomized trial design, 30 men with infertility of > or =2 months and female partners with no demonstrable cause of infertility received conventional treatment according to the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO), and either a...

Testicular protein Tpx-1, also known as CRISP-2, is a cysteine-rich secretory protein specifically expressed in the male reproductive tract. Since the information available on the human protein is limited to the identification and expression of its gene, in this work we have studied the presence and localization of human Tpx-1 (TPX1) in sperm, its fate after capacitation and acrosome reaction (...