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The production of hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) was investigated by means of cytochemical reaction with cerium chloride in human embryos cryostoraged for a long time period. The sites of H 2 O 2 generation were demonstrated at submicroscopic level in both freshly thawed embryos and in embryos and blastocysts formed after subsequent culture. The intact blastomeres as well as cells of well developed blastocysts did not produce any H 2 O 2 . Two main intracellular sites of H 2 O 2 production were identified: mitochondria and plasma membranes. Some alterations and often destruction of plasma membrane integrity accompanied by massive H 2 O 2 generation are believed to be caused by the freezing and thawing.

Drug resistance is one of the reasons for chemotherapy failure in non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). One of the major mechanisms of drug resistance is the inhibition of chemotherapy-induced apoptosis. Therefore, the study of novel cell death pathways could possibly enable us to overcome resistance to apoptosis in NSCLC. One of the non-caspase types of cell death is autophagy. BNIP3 protein, a Bcl-2 family member, highly expressed in some tumours, plays a key role in the induction of autophagy. In the present study, we investigated the immunohistochemical expression and subcellular localization of BNIP3 in a series of early- and late-stage non-small-cell lung carcinomas and normal bronchial tissues, and correlated this expression with the occurrence of metastasis and survival. BNIP3 was strongly expressed in the nucleus of cancer cells in 16/79 (20.3%) cases. This BNIP3 positivity did not correlate with histological grade, stage, histology type, metastatic potential, or expression of BNIP3 according to median values. No significant correlation was observed between the expression of BNIP3 and the overall survival of NSCLC patients (p = 0.55). Nor did we find any significant correlation between BNIP3 expression and the occurrence of site-specific metastasis (p = 0.85).

In the course of in vitro fertilization of zona-free hamster and pig eggs by boar and guinea-pig spermatozoa it was observed that homologous and heterologous eggs fused together, forming cell hybrids between two or more cells. The fusogenic activity was attributed to spermatozoa and this was the hypothesis tested. The fusogenic activity (coinciding with sperm penetration activity) was dependent on the duration of sperm preincubation, which may be regarded as capacitation in vitro. Fusion occurred only after 3 hr of sperm preincubation and a narrow optimum was detected at 4–4.5 hr. Fusion of eggs was also dependent on sperm concentration. A relatively high proportion of fusions was observed at a sperm concentration of 4.0 × 104 per ml and an optimum was attained at a concentration of 5.0 × 105 per ml. The first fusions were observed at 90 min after semination. After 3 hr more than a half of the eggs reacted, and by 20 hr of incubation 80% of ova were fused. The fusability of eggs was tested and found to occur at 14 hr after ovulation. The fusion process was also studied using transmission electron microscopy. It is supposed that the process of egg fusion may be caused either by a similar mechanism to sperm-egg fusion, or by products released during the sperm acrosome reaction.

Ultrahistochemical method according to Thiéry (1967) was used to determine the occurrence and localization of glycogen in blastocysts developed in vivo and in blastocysts developed from 2-cell embryos of the mouse for 62 to 64 h in in vitro culture. The presence of glycogen was found in blastocysts of both experimental groups. Glycogen had a monoparticulate character, i.e. the form of beta-granules, localized above all in the ground cytoplasm of cells. Their size varied from 10 to 30 nm. In the blastocysts developed in the physiological uterine environment the glycogen content was relatively low, trophoblasts cells containing regularly a higher amount of glycogen particles than embryoblast cells. In the blastocysts developed in the culture medium in the presence of currently used energy sources the distribution and content of glycogen were clearly graded according to the cell types. Compared with the in vivo-blastocysts, an abnormally high amount of glycogen was observed in the cytoplasm of trophoblast cells, a medium amount in the prospective endoderm cells and the minimum amount in the prospective ectoderm cells. The authors are of the opinion that differences in the accumulation of glycogen and its occurrence in the individual cells are in connection with their position in the blastocyst and with their relation to the surrounding microenvironment. It can be judged from the findings of glycogen deposits inside autophagic vacuoles and multivesicular bodies as well as inside extracellular located sacs that simultaneously with glycogen accumulation there also proceeds its partial degradation in lysosomal structures of blastocyst cells.

The authors have elaborated a suitable method of detection of PAS-positive substances with chemicals in common use-thiosemicarbazide-both on semi-thick sections and tissue blocks for electron microscopic purposes. The method is sufficiently sensitive even in the presence of only a small amount of PAS-positive substances. They found that the specifity of this method is the same as that in the PAS method used for light microscopy. The structure of the cells remains surprisingly well preserved, especially in comparison with other methods in current use.