Use of dithiothreitol for improved visibility of the F body in human Y-bearing spermatozoa

Summary.Dithiothreitol was used to decondense the nuclear chromatin before staining human spermatozoa with quinacrine for the F body present in Y-bearing spermatozoa. In unseparated fractions and those enriched in X- or Y-bearing spermatozoa, the number of spermatozoa with F bodies increased by 2–9% after dithiothreitol treatment.