Sperm is produced by the testis and mature in the epididymis. For having a successful conception, the fertilizing sperm should have functional competent membranes, intact acrosome, functional mitochondria and an intact haploid genome. The effects of genetic and environmental factors result in sperm vulnerability to damage in the process of spermatogenesis and maturation. In recent years, the fe...

The mechanisms responsible for mediating the influence of sperm preparation protocols on human sperm function have been investigated. Techniques that involved the separation of motile spermatozoa prior to centrifugation were found to yield sperm suspensions of highest quality. If the spermatozoa were centrifuged prior to isolation of the motile cells, sperm function was impaired. The detrimenta...

Effect of supplementation of ascorbic acid, caffeine and chloroquine diphosphate in the dilutor on post-thaw quality of spermatozoa was studied. Thirty-two semen ejaculates (8 each from 2 Holstein Friesian and 2 crossbred; 50% Friesian x 50% Haryana) were studied. Ascorbic acid, caffeine and chloroquine diphosphate were added in Tris-egg yolk-glycerol (control) extender at the concentration of ...

The Franklin and Dukes (FD) test is used as a screening test for the determination of sperm-agglutinating antibodies and as a proof of therapeutic effects in cases of infertility, but various parameters of the FD test remain unclear and the application of different techniques has revealed highly different results. To test the statistical evidence for the FD technique, conditions regarded as opt...

The objective of the present study was to estimate heritabilities and genetic correlations for semen and litter size traits using full animal model analyses. Litter size data were available from 28,485 Czech Large White and 10,410 Czech Landrace sows farrowing between 1995 and 2008. The number of litter records was 91,922 and 30,937, respectively. Records on semen traits (37,137 ejaculates from...

Artificial insemination (AI) subfertility is an indication of failure of AI with frozen-thawed sperm classified as normal by conventional semen examination. Recently, 8 AI-subfertile Japanese Black cattle (S1-S8) were identified using the routine AI test or in vivo fertilization test, which included AI with frozen-thawed sperm of superovulated females and subsequent non-surgical recovery of pre...

There is a fundamental body of evidence suggesting that activated apoptosis signaling in ejaculated human sperm negatively influences their fertilization potential. However, it is still controversial whether this apoptotic signaling is a relic of an abortive apoptosis related to spermatogenesis or if it should be regarded as a functional preformed pathway in mature sperm leading to stereotypica...

Mammalian fertilization requires sperm to penetrate the cumulus mass and egg zona pellucida prior to fusion with the egg. Although sperm penetration through these physical barriers is essential, the molecular mechanism has not yet been completely elucidated. In addition to sperm motility, hyaluronan-hydrolyzing and proteolytic enzymes of sperm have been suggested to participate in the penetrati...