the main role of cumulus cells (cc) is to provide nutritious materials for developing oocytes. follicular fluid (ff) contains the enzyme acid phosphatase, which plays a role in ovulation and fertilization of oocyte. the objective of this prospective study was to evaluate the levels of acid phosphatase in ff and the rate of apoptosis in cc of fertilized and unfertilized oocytes in intracytoplasm...

oocyte activation (aoa), results in high fertilization rates. objective: this prospective, randomized, unblinded clinical study aimed to evaluate the efficiency of calcium ionophore on fertilization and pregnancy rate after intracytoplasmic sperm injection (icsi) in infertile men suffer from teratoospermia. materials and methods: thirty eight women with teratoospermic partner underwent icsi wit...

IVF has become a well-established treatment for certain types of infertility, including long-standing infertility due to tubal disease, endometriosis, unexplained infertility or infertility involving a male factor. Soon it became clear that certain couples with severe male-factor infertility could not be helped by conventional IVF. Extremely low sperm counts, impaired motility and/or abnormal m...

The introduction of the technique of intracytoplasmic sperm injection to achieve fertilization, especially using surgically retrieved testicular or epididymal sperm from men with obstructive or non-obstructive azoospermia, has revolutionized the field of assisted reproduction. The techniques for the retrieval of spermatozoa vary from relatively simple percutaneous sperm aspiration to open excis...

BACKGROUND There is a growing awareness of potential problems in exposing sperm to polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) to slow their motility, a procedure commonly used prior to ICSI. The study presented here evaluates an alternative product for slowing sperm motility, which contains hyaluronate, a substance found naturally in the reproductive tract. METHODS Computerized sperm motility analysis was us...

PURPOSE We compared vasoepididymostomy to microsurgical epididymal sperm aspiration and intracytoplasmic sperm injection for treatment of epididymal obstruction secondary to vasectomy. MATERIALS AND METHODS Results in patients who underwent vasoepididymostomy for vasectomy reversal at our institution were compared to those reported previously for microsurgical epididymal sperm aspiration and ...