OBJECTIVE To analyze the effects of certain herbs on sperm DNA and on the fertilization process. DESIGN Prospective comparative study. SETTING Clinical and academic research environment. PATIENT(S) Donor sperm specimens. INTERVENTION(S) Zona-free hamster oocytes were incubated for 1 hour in saw palmetto (Serenoa repens), echinacea purpura, ginkgo biloba, St. John's wort (Hypericum perfo...

BACKGROUND Older men tend to have poorer semen quality and are generally at higher risks for infertility and abnormal reproductive outcomes. METHODS We employed proton-induced X-ray emission (PIXE, 3 MeV proton beam) to investigate the concentrations of zinc, copper, calcium, sulfur, chlorine, potassium, titanium, iron and nickel in washed sperm and seminal plasma from non-smoking groups of 1...

introduction: during spermiogendsis, sperm chromatin histones are replaced by protamine. after fertilization, the sprem nucleus is decondenced by glutathione (gsh). in this survey, we study the effect of various concentrations of gsh on human in vitro sperm decondensation. material and methods: after preparation and analysis of semen samples, sperm pellet was washed by ham's f-10 medium twice a...

Egg yolk (EY) and glycerol are common constituents of extenders used for sperm cryopreservation. It has been demonstrated that using cholesterol-loaded cyclodextrins (CLC) improves sperm cryosurvival in several species. However, standard freezing extenders might not be the most appropriate for CLC-treated sperm. This study evaluated the EY and glycerol requirements for freezing CLC-treated boar...

introduction: in the present investigation, we aimed to study the effect of different concentrations of ascorbate/vitamin c, on membrane integrity, viability, and acrosome reaction of human spermatozoa in presence of ferrous (fe2+) ions as lipid peroxidation (lpo) promoter. material and methods: we used 12 semen samples from healthy donors in shahrekord. the samples were then washed twice with ...

The goal of this study was to examine the effect of caffeine on motility parameters of cooling-stored ram sperm – total motility and progressive movement. Caffeine is a cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase inhibitor, which can affect sperm motility. The semen was kept at 4 ̊C for several days. Caffeine was added to fresh ram semen diluted in Triladyl at concentrations of 1, 2 and 4 mmol.l -1 ever...

BACKGROUND Acyclovir (ACV), a synthetic purine nucleoside analogue derived from guanosine, is known to be toxic to gonads and the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of ACV on the sperm parameters and testosterone production in rat. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this experimental study, forty adult male Wistar rats (220 ± 20 g) were randomly divided into five groups (n=8 for each group). ...

A new instrument for assessing mammalian semen attributes, the Sperm Quality Analyzer, was evaluated as a potential tool for determining rooster sperm quality. The Sperm Quality Analyzer measures the “activity” of sperm in a semen sample as the sperm motility index (SMI). The SMI is defined as the number and amplitude of deflections in a light path per second as a result of sperm movement wit...

The only known means of effectively separating populations of X and Y bearing sperms is the Beltsville sexing technology. The technology implies that each individual sperm is interrogated for DNA content, measuring the intensity of the fluorescence after staining the spermatozoa with Hoechst 33342. Because there are no data regarding the effect of the staining on stallion sperm, ejaculates were...

The percentages of sperm motility and normal acrosome on the liquid boar semen diluted and preserved at 4°C with lactose hydrate, egg yolk and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (LEN) diluent were significant differences according to preservation day and incubation time, respectively. The sperm motility steadily declined from 96.9% at 0.5 h incubation to 78.8% at 6 h incubation at 1 day of preservation. Ho...