spermatozoa generate reactive oxygen species (ros) in physiological amounts which play a role in sperm functions during sperm capacitation acrosome reaction (ar) and oocyte fusion. in addition damaged sperm are likely to be the source of ros. the most important ros produced by human sperm are hydrogen peroxide superoxide anion and hydroxyl radicals. besides human seminal plasma and sperm posses...

objective(s):althoughroutinely applied in assisted reproductive technology, human sperm cryopreservation is not a completely successful procedure. adverse effects of cryopreservation on the fertilization capacity, motility, morphology, and viability of spermatozoa have been proven; cryopreservation has also shown a role in sperm dna fragmentation and infertility. the post-thaw survival of sperm...

background: spermatozoa cryopreservation is used for the management of infertility and some other medical conditions. the routinely applied cryopreservation technique depends on permeating cryoprotectants, whose toxic effects have raised the attention towards permeating cryoprotectants-free vitrification technique. objective: to compare between the application of slow cryopreservation and vitri...

Male fertility assessment is performed in the context of WHO guidelines. Currently the 5th edition of the WHO guidelines have been published and technicians and clinicians are confronted with a new set of criteria. Apart from coming to grips with these criteria it is accepted/assumed that human fertility is declining? However, both aspects are debatable. The accuracy/consistency of semen evalua...

The human sperm motility assay was used as a measure of quality control in the IVF laboratory. The effects of albumin supplementation and incubation time on the sensitivity of the human sperm motility assay were investigated. The assay was also compared with mouse embryo development. The human sperm motility assay and mouse embryo development assays were performed on 25 items commonly used in I...

As the demand for assisted reproductive techniques in humans increases, so does the demand for the oocytes and sperm that are essential for these techniques. Human sperm banks play a key role in assisted human reproduction, as a reservoir of sperm from the semen of donors and as an option for genetic preservation for some patients. There are different techniques that can be used to store human ...

The human sperm surface glycine receptor (GLR) plays a role in an important fertilization event, the sperm acrosome reaction. Here, by western blot analysis, we report the presence of GLRA1, GLRA2, GLRA3, and GLRB subunits in human sperm. Immunolocalization studies showed that the GLRA1 and GLRA2 subunits are present in the equatorial region, the GLRA3 subunit in the flagellar principal piece, ...

BACKGROUND Contraceptive vaccines can provide valuable alternatives to current methods of contraception. We describe here the development of sperm-reactive human single chain variable fragment (scFv) antibodies of defined sperm specificity for immunocontraception. METHODS Peripheral blood leukocytes (PBL) from antisperm antibody-positive immunoinfertile and vasectomized men were activated wit...

Background: Following the expansion of human infertility, different procedures have been utilized for separation of normal sperm during ICSI (Intra cytoplasmic sperm injection). Hypo-osmotic swelling test (HOST) is one of the tests which have been introduced for assessment of integrity of sperm membrane when confronted with hypo osmotic condition. This test may also reflect intracellular organe...

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are common environmental contaminants that represent a considerable risk to reproductive toxicity in exposed human populations. Although some experimental studies have suggested an association between the levels of PCBs and semen quality, the direct effects of PCBs on human sperm parameters remain largely unexplored. To this aim, a short-term in vitro incubation...