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Background and Objectives: Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are essential for sperm physiological functions including capacitation, acrosome reaction, fertilization, and etc. Sperm cell in comparison with other cells is highly prone to oxidative attack due to high level of membrane unsaturated fatty acids and low volume of cytoplasmic space. Therefore, the aim of this review article was to understand the causes of oxidative stress production, the mechanisms involved in oxidative stress, its effects and therapeutic strategies for infertile men. Materials and Methods: For this review, all relevant information were collected via databases such as PubMed and Google Scholar, and totally, information were extracted from 60 articles. Results: Several studies showed that level of pathological ROS was significantly higher in infertile men in comparison to fertile men, and under these conditions, high level of sperm apoptotic, loss of mitochondrial membrane potential, caspase activation, sperm phosphatidylserine exposure, oxidative DNA damage, and low quality of sperm parameters were observed. Oxidative damages can affect sperm DNA integrity and are associated to miscarriage and developmental abnormalities in the offspring. Conclusion: Oxidative stress is caused by several variable factors, and the use of an effective antioxidant can decrease the oxidative stress level and improve fertility potential in couples with male infertility factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although vitamin D deficiency is one of the most common health problems throughout the world, including Iran, conflicting information exists on the potential association between serum vitamin D levels and semen quality. This study intended to evaluate the association between serum vitamin D [25( OH) D3] with semen quality and hormones in Iranian subfertile men. We also compared mean vitamin D and hormone levels in normospermic men with oligoasthenoteratozoospermia ( OAT) men. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 278 men who were referred to Royan Infertility Clinic (Tehran, Iran) from March to September 2014. The participants were categorized into two groups; of 186 normospermic and 92 OAT patients according to World Health Organization 2010 criteria. Each participant provided informed consent prior to launching research. Participants completed two general questionnaires of nutritional status. Blood and semen samples were obtained for assessment, and all data were adjusted for age, body mass index ( BMI), and season. Vitamin D levels were classified according to Institute of Medicine guidelines. Vitamin D deficiency, insufficiency, and normal levels were observed in 8.6%, 43.6%, 47.8% of participants, respectively. No association was found between daily dietary intake of vitamin D and calcium with sperm parameters. Serum vitamin D was inversely correlated with PTH ( p < 0.045). In normospermic men, serum vitamin D levels categorized were not correlated with semen parameters and reproductive hormones ( FSH, LH, testosterone(T), and FT), whereas sperm motility showed a positive correlation with vitamin D categorized in OAT men ( rs = 0.131, p = 0.028). In conclusion, there was a high incidence of deficiency and insufficiency 25( OH) D Levels (<20ng/ml) observed in Iranian men (52.2%). Moreover, our findings showed a correlation between vitamin D levels and sperm motility in OAT men, which requires further studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to provide a consistent system for laboratory production of embryos, the characteristics of immature camel oocyte must first be described. The objective of this study was to define ultrastructural features of immature camel oocyte. Ovaries were obtained from camels at a local abattoir, and then transported to the laboratory within 2 h. Camelus cumulus oocyte complexes (COCs) were aspirated from 2–6 mm follicles using a 22-gauge needle. Excellent and good quality COCs were selected and prepared for transmission electron microscopy study using a cavity slide. The fine structure of camel oocyte is morphologically similar to that of other mammalian oocytes. However, some minor differences exist between COC of camel and other mammalian species. Different size and shape of membrane-bound vesicles, lipid droplet, mitochondria and cortical granules were distributed throughout the ooplasm. Discrete or in association with endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi complexes were observed in the periphery of the oocytes. The majority of the oocytes were in the germinal vesicle stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of sperm chromatin anomalies on fertilization outcome post-intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). Therefore, along with semen parameters, Chromomycin A3 (CMA3) staining for protamine deficiency, aniline blue staining for excessive histones, SDS for sperm chromatin stability and SDS + EDTA for the ability of sperm to undergo decondensation were carried out on 55 semen samples from patients referred to the Isfahan Fertility and Infertility Center for ICSI. The results showed that among the aforementioned tests and semen parameters only CMA3 showed a significant correlation with fertilization outcome post-ICSI. Patients were also grouped according to CMA3 level of <30% or >30% or fertilization rate of <50% or >50%. The results show that the mean percentage fertilization and mean percentage of CMA3 positivity is different in both groups, respectively. The area under receiver operator characteristics curve shows that CMA3 is a highly sensitive and specific test for prediction of fertilization outcome post-ICSI. In conclusion, that sperm protamine deficiency has profound effect on fertilization failure in ICSI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: PPARμ, a ligand dependent nuclear receptor, play its role as a transcription factor in many of cells especially adipose tissue. In our recent previous studies, although we have shown a significant increase in mRNA level of PPARμ in neural differentiation from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), a similar pattern in relevant protein level was not detected. To seek additional evidence for how the expression of PPARμ is regulated, we evaluated here two main regulatory systems, proteasome and miRNAs. Materials and Methods: Treated hESCs with noggin and bFGF were induced to differentiate into neuroectodermal cells with retinoic acid for 6 days. Subsequently, cells were collected in TRIzol reagent to extract total RNA for miRNA specific cDNA synthesis, and evaluate miRNA expression. Furthermore, we used MG132 as a proteasome inhibitor to address the question whether this protein complex can involve in regulation of PPARμ expression. To this end, we treated neuroectodermal cells with MG132 in day 6 RA treatment where we had observed the most expression of PPARμ. Results: In the case of miRNA, we measured the expression of three miRNAs, miR20, 27, 133, which had been previously reported as miRNAs specifically targeting PPARμ mRNA. We did not observed significant enhancement related to none of the mentioned miRNAs similar to what we detected regarding PPARμ mRNA. Moreover, we investigated involvement of proteasome in this pathway. Although we inhibited proteasome by MG132, we detected no increase in PPARμ protein compare to untreated group indicating that proteasome could not involve in protein degradation. Conclusion: According to our result, it can be concluded that miRNAs and proteasome don't involve in regulation of PPARμ expression. Possibly, mRNA of PPARμ plays a prominent role in retinoic acid-induced neural differentiation similar to Tpt1 mRNA in mouse embryonic stem cells where there is negative correlation between mRNA and protein level of Tpt1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Previous studies confirmed that neural gene expression in embryonic stem cells (ESC) could influence by chemical compounds through stimulating apoptotic pathway. We aimed to use ESCs derived neural cells by embryoid body formation as an in vitro model for determination of neural gene expression changes in groups that treated by sera from Alzheimer's patients and compare with healthy individuals. Materials and Methods: ESC line which was derived from the mouse strain was used throughout this study. ESC derived neural cells were treated with serum from Alzheimer's patient and healthy individual. Neural gene expression was assessed in both groups by quantitative Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction analysis. The data was analyzed by SPSS Software (version 18). Results: Morphologically, the reducing in neurite out growth was observed in neural cells in group, which treated by serum from Alzheimer's patient, while neurite growth was natural in appearance in control group. Microtubule associated protein 2 and glial fibrillary acidic protein expression significantly reduced in the Alzheimer's patient group compared with the control group. Nestin expression did not significantly differ among the groups. Conclusion: Neural gene expression could be reduced in serum treated ESC in Alzheimer's patients [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) are unique cells of testes that can restore fertility upon transplantation into recipient testes. However, use of suitable markers for enrichment of these cells is an important potential application. THY1 is an established conserved marker of SSCs in bovine, rodents and primates, but, there is no information available in goats. Materials and Methods: Following three rounds of enzymatic digestion of pre-pubertal goat testicular tissues, undifferentiated spermatogonia positive for THY1 were isolated by magnetic activated cell sorting (MACS) and were used for immunocytochemistry, real time PCR analysis of gene expression, protein expression, and transplantation into recipient mice. Results: Immunocytochemical analyses showed that significantly higher percentage of THY1+ cells were positive for PLZF and VASA as compared to unselected population. This result for PLZF was further confirmed at protein level. Real time PCR analysis revealed that expression of THY1, PLZF, VASA, BCL6B, UCHL1 as SCCs characteristic genes in THY1+ cells were significantly higher than in the initial population. Finally, transplantation of PKH26 labeled cells revealed that THY1+ cells had higher capacity for colony formation as compared to unselected cells. Conclusion: The results provide indications that THY1 surface marker can be reliably used for enrichment of undifferentiated spermatogonial in the goats [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]