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Turquoise killifish had to adapt to the inhospitable conditions in which they live, especially drying temporal water bodies, which means certain death. The life sprint of the representatives of this genus is at its peak within one-month post-hatching, when both sexes have fully developed gonads and can reproduce. This rate comes with a high cost, as the killifish gonads begin to show signs of tissue degradation and germ cell apoptosis as early as three months post-hatching. Germ cell loss increases with age. A description of the development and degradation of the gonads in males and their breeding was elaborated. For the evaluation of aging-specific changes, immunochemical methods were used, focusing on the binding of specific antibodies against target epitopes and their visualization using fluorescence microscopy. Procedures for histological specimens have also been described, both for classical light and fluorescence microscopy.

As the problems with the reproduction of livestock and humans starting to increase, the need for knowledge of mechanisms involved in regulating the correct process of gametogenesis and embryogenesis also rises. For the experimental part of this work, two components from two different, mostly separately explored fields, i.e. gasotransmitters and epigenetic mechanisms, which are necessary for the correct process of gametes production and early embryonic evolution were chosen. Hydrogen sulfide was chosen from the series of gasotransmitters, and histone deacetylase Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) was chosen as its possible substrate. Confirmation of the presence of these components was carried out on oocytes and embryos of laboratory mice (Mus musculus).

It is now more than 35 years since the first world test-tube baby, Louise Brown, was born (1978) in England and it is estimated that since then more than 4 000 000 of children were produced by in vitro fertilization (IVF) worldwide. The initial success of IVF was less than 20% in best clinics, but now it reaches about 40%. This is a consequence of introduction of new methods, standardization and exploitation of new manipulation and culture media, as well as the incorporation of research results. Nevertheless, the most important still remains the skill and experience of IVF clinics and IVF laboratories staff, especially their ability to critically evaluate the quality of biological material and to decide which cure and treatment are the best one. At least, some biological material (immature and low quality oocytes) can be used for training and also for some experiments aiming to explain some questions, which are not yet fully understood (for example aneuploidies in human oocytes and embryos). In addition, this training can facilitate the introduction of new progressive approaches and may also improve indirectly the quality of infertility treatments. The first part of thesis is focused on the quality evaluation of oocytes collected by aspiration from follicles of stimulated patients. For labeling...