Apoptosis is an ongoing physiological phenomenon that has been documented to play a role in male infertility, if deregulated. Caspase activation, externalization of phosphatidylserine, alteration of mitochondrial membrane potential and DNA fragmentation are markers of apoptosis found in ejaculated human spermatozoa. These markers appear in excess in subfertile men and functionally incompetent s...

new advances in mass spectrometry-based proteomics technology are having amajor impact on our understanding of how human spermatozoa acquire their capacity for fertilization. a complete analysis of the proteins found in the human spermatozoa is essential for understanding the events leading up to, and including, fertilization and early embryo development. in this short review, we have collected...

BACKGROUND The vitamin D receptor (VDR) is expressed in human spermatozoa, and VDR-knockout mice and vitamin D (VD) deficiency in rodents results in impaired fertility, low sperm counts and a low number of motile spermatozoa. We investigated the role of activated VD (1,25(OH)(2)D(3)) in human spermatozoa and whether VD serum levels are associated with semen quality. METHODS Cross-sectional as...

Spermatozoa mediated gene transfer has become a promising technology to generate transgenic animals with disease resistance. However, exogenous DNA invasion may cause changes in spermatozoon natural defense system which result in spermatozoon dysfunction.The objective of this study was to investigate the changes of mitochondrial function and motility in goat spermatozoa after pre-incubation and...

Both the ability to freeze human spermatozoa and the possibility of pregnancy following intrauterine insemination have existed for >40 years. There have been a number of improvements during that time concerning the methods of freezing and thawing human spermatozoa. Initially, the use of the cryoprotective properties of glycerol allowed a major improvement; subsequently, changes were mainly empi...

The nuclear lamina takes centre stage during spermiogenesis, the post-meiotic phase of spermatogenesis, when haploid round spermatids differentiate into spermatozoa: the acrosome and flagellum develop at opposite nuclear poles, the nucleus elongates and, as the nuclear histones are replaced with protamines, the chromatin condenses, to produce the highly compacted pyriform nucleus of the mature ...