Dynein-ATPase is the intracellular motor for sperm motility. In the present work we assayed the dynein-ATPase activity in an axoneme-containing fraction of human sperm, free of plasma membranes, in normozoospermic and asthenozoospermic donors. Axoneme-containing fractions were isolated from semen samples obtained from healthy donors with either normozoospermia or asthenozoospermia, as indicated...

Previous studies have shown that genetic polymorphisms in exon7 of the NSUN7 gene can be used as an infertility marker in Iranian men with asthenospermia. However, there have been no equivalent studies in China. In the present study, we investigated the possible association between the genetic polymorphisms in exon7 of NSUN7 and asthenospermia in a Chinese Han population. We recruited 240 asthe...

The possibility of a diurnal variation in semen quality was tested in 54 human males attending our infertility clinic. Of the enrolled subjects, 24 were normozoospermic and 30 were suffering from oligo- and/or asthenozoospermia. Seminal fluid was collected by masturbation twice by each subject, once in the morning (7:00-7:30 a.m.) and once in the afternoon (5:00-5:30 p.m.). Abstinence from sexu...

In several cases of asthenoteratozoospermia, electron microscopic investigation displayed immature sperm forms, morphological apoptotic patterns of spermatozoa and many cytoplasmic conglomerates with fragments of the sperm. In these patients, TUNEL assay showed a high percentage of spermatozoa with nuclear DNA fragmentation. Moreover, thickened and deformed midpieces were observed which contain...

OBJECTIVE To determine the efficacy of combined l-carnitine and l-acetyl-carnitine therapy in infertile males with oligo-astheno-teratozoospermia. DESIGN Placebo-controlled double-blind randomized trial. SETTING University tertiary referral center. PATIENT(S) Sixty infertile patients (aged 20-40 years) with the following baseline sperm selection criteria: concentration, 10 to 40 x 10(6)/m...

Trichomonas vaginalis infection is one of the most prevalent sexually transmitted infections in humans and is now recognized as an important cause of infertility in men. There is little information about the effect of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) from T. vaginalis on sperm, but previous reports do not provide a conclusive description of the functional integrity of the sperm. To inve...