DNA methylation patterns are reprogrammed in primordial germ cells and in preimplantation embryos by demethylation and subsequent de novo methylation. It has been suggested that epigenetic reprogramming may be necessary for the embryonic genome to return to a pluripotent state. We have carried out a genome-wide promoter analysis of DNA methylation in mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells, embryonic g...

There is a genome in a cell, as everyone knows, but there is also an epigenome. The epigenome regulates the transcription of the underlying genome. In the last decade, it was discovered that the epigenome state and its regulation are important for differentiation and development. Diseases were identified which are caused by errors in the epigenome state and its regulation. Therefore, several st...

Previously, it was suggested a relation between the presence of apoptosis markers with cytoplasm in mammalian sperm. In this work, flow cytometry, confocal microscopy and image analysis were used to analyze the relationship between active caspase-3 and -7 and intracellular esterases expression in ejaculated or epididymal ram sperm. Sperm obtained from ejaculates from the caput, corpus, or cauda...

Background: Animal models and observational studies have suggested a favorable role of vitamin D in male reproduction. However, randomized clinical trials investigating the effect of vitamin D supplementation on male fertility are limited. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the effect of vitamin D supplementation on semen quality, reproductive hormones, and anthropometric measurements in vi...

The selection of vital, non-apoptotic spermatozoa is a prerequisite for achieving optimal conception rates in assisted reproductive techniques. Magnetic cell sorting using annexin-V microbeads can effectively separate apoptotic and non-apoptotic spermatozoa. The objective of the present study was to optimize the integration of magnetic cell sorting in standard sperm preparations and to correlat...

Aim. This study aimed to assess seminal miRNA relationship with seminal apoptotic markers and oxidative stress (OS) in infertile men associated with varicocele (Vx). Methods. In all, 220 subjects were divided into the following groups: fertile normozoospermic men, fertile normozoospermic men with Vx, infertile oligoasthenoteratozoospermic (OAT) men without Vx, and infertile OAT men with Vx. The...

conclusions our results show that oxidative stress could play an important role in male infertility as well as in sperm motility and sperm morphology. patients and methods this case control study was conducted using 35 men with idiopathic infertility and 34 men with proven fertility. seminal plasma tac and mda were measured by ferric reducing ability of plasma (frap) and thiobarbituric acid (tb...