Centrosome integrity is critically important for successful fertilization and embryo development. In humans, the sperm contributes the dominant centrosomal material containing centrioles and centrosomal components onto which oocyte centrosomal proteins assemble after sperm incorporation to form the sperm aster that is essential for uniting sperm and oocyte pronuclei. Increasingly, dysfunctional...

Fertilisation by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), a technique that bypasses the membrane fusion of the gametes, has been widely used to produce offspring in humans and mice. Success with this technique has lent support to the hypothesis that in mammalian fertilisation, a factor from the sperm, the so-called sperm factor, is responsible for oocyte activation and that the fusion process i...

One important result of egg activation is the establishment of blocks to prevent polyspermic fertilization; these blocks are established on the zona pellucida and the egg plasma membrane. This study examines what the sperm brings to the egg to induce the establishment of the membrane block to polyspermy, building on past evidence that membrane block establishment does not occur in response to p...

Submit Manuscript | http://medcraveonline.com Abbreviations: WHO: World Health Organization; ROS: Reactive Oxygen Species; PS: Phosphatidylserine; EPS: Externalization of Phosphatidylserine; ART: Assisted Reproduction Techniques; IUI: Intra-Uterine Insemination; IVF: In Vitro Fertilization; ICSI: Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection; PICSI: Physiologic Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection; SU: Swim-Up;...

Sperm nuclear transfer or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is a powerful assisted reproductive technology (ART) for treating human male infertility. Controversial reports of increased birth defects have raised concerns about the ART's safety. The cause for birth defects, however, has remained elusive for analysis in human because of the sample size, male infertility genetics, physiologic...

This study was conducted to determine whether the mode of sperm immobilization prior to intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) influences fertilization by immature spermatozoa. Of the 837 ICSI cycles evaluated, 81 were performed with epididymal or testicular spermatozoa; 35 cycles with epididymal spermatozoa immobilized in the standard fashion resulted in fertilization and pregnancy rates of 4...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the expression of oocyte-specific linker histone protein (hH1FOO) in human ovaries and its incorporation into sperm chromatin after intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). DESIGN Laboratory study. SETTING University hospital. PATIENT(S) Human ovarian tissues were obtained from patients at oophorectomy. Human oocytes and embryos were obtained from infertile patien...

OBJECTIVE Correlations between semen parameters and sperm DNA fragmentation index (DFI) were investigated to identify characteristics of sperm without DNA damage that could be used in selecting sperm for intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). Pregnancy outcomes were compared to determine whether in vitro fertilization (IVF) or ICSI is a better choice for patients who have sperm with a high-DF...

Assisted oocyte activation (AOA) is the technique that simulates the effect of sperm penetration into an oocyte inducing oocyte activation. This technique is used in combination with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) to improve the outcome of the fertilization process. It is mostly beneficial and recommended in those cases, when classic ICSI fails. This accounts approximately up to 5 % of...

BACKGROUND For human ICSI, sperm are normally immobilized immediately prior to injection. However, there are some situations when only sperm of questionable viability are available. There are few evaluations of fertilization or developmental problems in human or animal models using sperm having known intervals between immobilization and injection. METHODS Immobilized human sperm were maintain...