fresh semen obtained from infertile men occasionally exhibits the total absence of motile sperm (100%asthenozoospermia). vitality tests may reveal that a proportion of the immotile sperm has functional membranes, which are considered viable. an easy test for the prior determination of sperm viability may assist in sperm selection for the microinjection of oocytes. the main objective of this stu...

BACKGROUND Bone marrow aspirates contain primarily red blood cells. To achieve efficient cell transplantation for regeneration, the red blood cells need to be removed from the aspirates. Cell isolation is typically performed using density gradient centrifugation. However, this method entails issues of clinical safety and convenience. This study describes an efficient method to concentrate bone ...

The role of myo-inositol as an osmolyte was studied in cultured rat liver macrophages (Kupffer cells). Hyperosmotic exposure of Kupffer cells stimulated myo-inositol uptake and led to an increase in the mRNA levels for the sodium/myo-inositol cotransporter (SMIT). Conversely, hypo-osmotic (205 m-osM) exposure diminished myo-inositol uptake when compared with normo-osmotic (305 m-osM) control in...

In the sand-fly mid gut, Leishmania promastigotes are exposed to acute changes in nutrients, e.g. amino acids (AAs). These metabolites are the main energy sources for the parasite, crucial for its differentiation and motility. We analysed the migratory behaviour and morphological changes produced by aliphatic, monocarboxylic, dicarboxylic, heterocyclic and sulphur-containing AAs in Leishmania a...

BACKGROUND The intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) technique selects sperm according to morphology and motility. However, these parameters cannot predict the chromatin integrity of sperm. Considering the detrimental effects of DNA-damaged sperm on reproductive outcomes, novel sperm selection procedures have been proposed to circumvent the possibility of inseminating DNA-damaged sperm. It h...

Swelling of mitochondria plays an important role in the pathogenesis of human diseases by stimulating mitochondria-mediated cell death through apoptosis, necrosis, and autophagy. Changes in the permeability of the inner mitochondrial membrane (IMM) of ions and other substances induce an increase in the colloid osmotic pressure, leading to matrix swelling. Modeling of mitochondrial swelling is i...

Acidification of the suspending medium of corn mitochondria (Zea mays L., WF9 x Mo17) from pH 7.5 to pH 6.8 to 6.4 initiates osmotic swelling with the transportable anions citrate, sulfate, and phosphate. Swelling becomes pronounced with a combination of citrate plus sulfate or phosphate. Acidification proves to activate endogenous respiration, which is essentially zero at pH 7.5. The endogenou...

A mechanism used by cells to regulate their volume under hypo-osmotic conditions is the release of organic osmolytes, one of which is myo-inositol. The possibility that activation of phospholipase-C-linked receptors can regulate this process has been examined for SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells. Incubation of cells with hypo-osmolar buffers (160-250 mOsm) led to a biphasic release of inositol which...