In these last twenty years, intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) has efficiently permitted the treatment of male factor infertility (Van Steirteghem et al., 1993); the direct injection of spermatozoa into ooplasm has allowed the embryologist to overcome low sperm motility, poor sperm-Zona Pellucida (ZP) binding, and defective acrosome reaction. Although ICSI has been successfully applied wor...

BACKGROUND There is considerable uncertainty as to the significance of a high sperm DNA fragmentation index (DFI) for achieving a successful pregnancy. METHODS The sperm DFI of 124 patients undergoing 192 IVF cycles and of 96 patients undergoing 155 ICSI cycles was determined using the sperm chromatin structure assay on neat sperm. RESULTS The rate of continuing pregnancies in ICSI cycles (...

OBJECTIVES The aim of the present study was to compare two procedures for sperm selection in ICSI cycles - conventional morphology sperm selection (ICSI-PVP) and chemical selection through Hyaluronan-treated petri dishes (PICSI), when male factor was associated. METHODS The evaluated parameters were semen quality, fertilization and cleavage rates, chemical and clinical pregnancy rates, as wel...

OBJECTIVE The goal of this study was to evaluate the pregnancy potential of immature (metaphase I or germinal vesicle stage) oocytes retrieved in intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycles. METHODS A total of 1,871 couples with infertility underwent 2,984 ICSI cycles. Cycles in which three or fewer oocytes were retrieved were included in this study in order to evaluate the pregnancy poten...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE The objective of the present study was to compare the levels of sperm centrin a centrosomal protein that influences cell migration, in normal fertile donors and in oligoasthenozoospermic males (count 5 million/ml and motility <40%, grade c+d) undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and to correlate with the outcome of ICSI. METHODS The prospective study carri...

BACKGROUND Sperm quality may degrade during transit through the male reproductive tract in some individuals. In this setting surgically retrieved testicular sperm may outperform ejaculated samples for use with in vitro fertilization (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF-ICSI). We sought to describe one center's experience with the use of fresh testicular sperm after prior failed IVF-I...

The introduction of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) has raised concern about safety in terms of a possible increase in the incidence of major congenital malformations, chromosomal aberrations or developmental problems. The possible influence of genetic imprinting on an ICSI procedure has not yet been investigated. We therefore studied the DNA-methylation status at a defined region in ch...

BACKGROUND/AIM Many technical factors can affect intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) outcomes. The role of the injection micropipette could be of vital importance in ICSI programs. The main goal was to compare ICSI pregnancy outcomes between commercial and home-made injection micropipettes in a large population with male factor infertility. MATERIALS AND METHODS Five-hundred and eleven IC...

Sperm immobilization prior to intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is thought to be necessary for efficient fertilization. A variety of methods of sperm immobilization (pipetting, squeezing and piezo application) are currently employed in ICSI. The effect of differences in immobilization method on the timing of initial Ca(2+) oscillations of oocytes in ICSI was investigated. Motile spermatoz...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to analyze the influence of autoantibodies against spermatozoa present in the semen on the outcome of in vitro fertilization with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). MATERIALS AND METHODS We performed a retrospective analysis of clinical and laboratorial data from a six year-period ICSI cycles. Screening for the presence of ASA in the semen, by using t...