background: the study of specific genes expressed in the testis is important to understanding testis development and function. spermatogenesis is an attractive model for the study of gene expression during germ cell differentiation. spermatogenesis associated-19 (spata-19) is a recently-identified important spermatogenesis-related gene specifically expressed in testis. its protein product is in...

Mouse sperm produce enough ATP to sustain motility by anaerobic glycolysis and respiration. However, previous studies indicated that an active glycolytic pathway is required to achieve normal sperm function and identified glycolysis as the main source of ATP to fuel the motility of mouse sperm. All the available evidence has been gathered from the studies performed using the laboratory mouse. H...

Background: It is showed that methamphetamine has harmful effects on male reproductive system. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of methamphetamine administration on testis weight, sperm count, sperm morphology, and chromatin status as well as sperm apoptotis followed by the cytochemical tests in a mouse model. Materials and Methods: Twenty four NMRI male mice were divided in...

The aim of this study was to evaluate changes that occur in motility parameters of progesterone treated mouse spermatozoa during course of hyperactivation. Mouse spermatozoa treated with different doses of progesterone were videotaped after 10 min and 90 min of incubation. For each sperm, one second of movement of the head-midpiece junction was traced from the videotape and for each tracing sev...

BACKGROUND For human ICSI, sperm are normally immobilized immediately prior to injection. However, there are some situations when only sperm of questionable viability are available. There are few evaluations of fertilization or developmental problems in human or animal models using sperm having known intervals between immobilization and injection. METHODS Immobilized human sperm were maintain...

BACKGROUND Sperm chromatin is highly condensed and relatively resistant to chemical and physical treatments. The purpose of this study was to explore the highest temperature that sperm can tolerate and still produce live offspring. METHODS Mouse sperm were heated in a water bath at 50, 65, 80 or 95°C for 30 min before they were microinjected into mouse oocytes. Fertilization, embryo developme...

BACKGROUND Matrine is a bioactive alkaloid that has a variety of pharmacological effects and is widely used in Chinese medicine. However, its effects on male reproduction are not well known. In this study, we aimed to investigate the in vitro toxicity of matrine on mature mouse sperm. METHODS Mouse cauda epididymal sperm were exposed to matrine (10-200 µM) in vitro. The viability, motility, c...

We have developed an assay for detecting the acrosome reaction in mouse sperm using chlortetracycline (CTC) as a fluorescent probe . Sperm known to be intact with nonreacted acrosomes show CTC fluorescence in the presence of Ca" over the anterior portion of the sperm head on the plasma membrane covering the acrosome . Sperm which have undergone the acrosome reaction do not show fluorescence on ...

We have developed an assay for detecting the acrosome reaction in mouse sperm using chlortetracycline (CTC) as a fluorescent probe. Sperm known to be intact with nonreacted acrosomes show CTC fluorescence in the presence of Ca2+ over the anterior portion of the sperm head on the plasma membrane covering the acrosome. Sperm which have undergone the acrosome reaction do not show fluorescence on t...