Calcium and Ca(2+)-dependent signals play a crucial role in sperm motility and mammalian fertilization, but the molecules and mechanisms underlying these Ca(2+)-dependent pathways are incompletely understood. Here we show that homozygous male mice with a targeted gene deletion of isoform 4 of the plasma membrane calcium/calmodulin-dependent calcium ATPase (PMCA), which is highly enriched in the...

Background: Although sperm selection according to morphologic and motility characteristic, made to some what the fertility successful, but sperm’s normal morphology cannot demonstrate sperm DNA competence. Since the health of sperm DNA is affecting the results of assisted reproductive technology; the aim of this study is to evaluate semen parameters measured by CASA with sperm chromatin abnorma...

This paper reports a case of recurrent miscarriage in a patient affected by a variant phenotype of sperm macrocephaly syndrome (SMS). SMS is usually related to specific sperm characteristics (large head, multiple tail) and homozygous mutations in the aurora kinase C gene (AURKC). However, the present case observed large-headed spermatozoa with no flagellar abnormalities and no mutations detecta...

Background: The present study aimed to evaluate the correlation between the motile sperm organelle morphology examination (MSOME) and a well-knownsperm morphology classification (Tygerberg criteria). Materials and Methods: Semen samples (one per subject) were obtained from 97 men (mean age 36.7±6.0years) from an unselected group of couples undergoing infertility investigation and treatment. A p...

The Spatial gene is expressed in highly polarized cell types, such as epithelial cells in the thymus, neurons in the brain and germ cells in the testis. In this study, we report the characterization and distribution of Spatial proteins during mouse spermatogenesis. Besides Spatial-epsilon and -delta, we show that the newly described short isoform Spatial-beta is expressed specifically in round ...

The outer dense fiber 2 (ODF2) protein is an important component of sperm tail outer dense fiber and localizes at the centrosome. It has been reported that the RO072 ES cell derived homozygote knock out of ODF2 results in an embryonic lethal phenotype, and XL169 ES cell derived heterozygote knock out causes severe defects in sperm tail development. The ODF2s splicing variant, Cenexin1, possesse...

Theory predicts that males experiencing elevated levels of sperm competition will invest more in gonads and produce faster-swimming sperm. Although there is ample evidence in support of the first prediction, few studies have examined sperm swimming speed in relation to sperm competition. In this study, we tested these predictions from sperm competition theory by examining sperm characteristics ...

Hop-sterile (hop) is a new mutation in the mouse, the effects of which include complete male sterility, a 'hopping' gait and preaxial polydactyly of all feet. Ultrastructural studies of spermiogenesis show that sperm tails are absent or highly modified. Second meiotic division is frequently abnormal or incomplete, often with four centrioles per cell. These centrioles usually fail to form fiagel...

The swim-up procedure was used to collect a sperm fraction with improved motility and normal morphology from fertile and infertile semen samples. The untreated and swim-up fractions were analyzed with the Hamilton-Thorn Motility Analyser. Comparisons were made to see the effect of this sperm selection technique on sperm motility and morphology. They were then examined by transmission elect...

BACKGROUND This study aimed to assess the relationship between apoptosis in human ejaculated spermatozoa, sperm morphology and the novel sperm deformity index (SDI). METHODS Semen specimens from 50 healthy donors were prepared by density-gradient centrifugation followed by incubating the prepared sperm with paramagnetic annexin V-conjugated microbeads and subjecting this to magnetic cell sort...