Human Reproduction, Vol. 16, No. 9, 1938-1944,
September 2001
© 2001 European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology
Developmental potential of elongating and elongated spermatids obtained after in-vitro maturation of isolated round spermatids
1 Instituto Bernabeu de Fertilidad y Ginecologia, Avda. de la Albufereta 31, 03016 Alicante, Spain, 2 Department of Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, Porto, 3 Centre for Reproductive Genetics, Porto and 4 Laboratory of Cell Biology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar, State University of Porto, Lg. Prof. Abel Salazar 2, 4099-003 Porto, Portugal
BACKGROUND: Round spermatid injections are associated with disappointing clinical outcomes, and although these cells have been shown to mature into late spermatids in vitro, the developmental potential of such gametes remains to be demonstrated. METHODS: Round spermatids were isolated from 12 testicle samples of patients with obstructive azoospermia, hypoplasia, complete maturation arrest, and incomplete Sertoli cell-only syndrome. They were cultured for 7 days at 32°C, 5% CO2in air, in microdrops of Vero cell-conditioned medium containing 10% synthetic serum substitute. RESULTS: From the 238 round spermatids cultured, 25.2% attained the elongating and 5.5% the elongated spermatid stage (34 days per step). Relatively higher maturation rates were found in cases with obstructive azoospermia, but differences were significant only for elongated spermatids (9.3%). No differences were found in maturation rates between cases with non-obstructive azoospermia (4.3% of elongated spermatids). Experimental microinjections with elongating and elongated spermatids revealed a low fertilization rate (40.9%) but a normal blastocyst formation rate (60%). CONCLUSIONS: Late spermatids resulting from in-vitro culture of round spermatids in conditioned medium, either in controls in cases with a spermiogenetic block, appeared able to successfully fertilize the human oocyte and elicit normal embryo development.
Key words: in-vitro maturation/non-obstructive azoospermia/round spermatids
4 To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: msousa{at}icbas.up.pt
![]()
CiteULike
Connotea
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
R. Sa, R. Neves, S. Fernandes, C. Alves, F. Carvalho, J. Silva, N. Cremades, I. Malheiro, A. Barros, and M. Sousa Cytological and Expression Studies and Quantitative Analysis of the Temporal and Stage-Specific Effects of Follicle-Stimulating Hormone and Testosterone During Cocultures of the Normal Human Seminiferous Epithelium Biol Reprod, November 1, 2008; 79(5): 962 - 975. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
V. Roulet, H. Denis, C. Staub, A. Le Tortorec, B. Delaleu, A.P. Satie, J.J. Patard, B. Jegou, and N. Dejucq-Rainsford Human testis in organotypic culture: application for basic or clinical research Hum. Reprod., June 1, 2006; 21(6): 1564 - 1575. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
N. Sofikitis, E. Pappas, A. Kawatani, D. Baltogiannis, D. Loutradis, N. Kanakas, D. Giannakis, F. Dimitriadis, K. Tsoukanelis, I. Georgiou, et al. Efforts to create an artificial testis: culture systems of male germ cells under biochemical conditions resembling the seminiferous tubular biochemical environment Hum. Reprod. Update, May 1, 2005; 11(3): 229 - 259. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
M. J. Pinho, R. Neves, P. Costa, C. Ferras, M. Sousa, C. Alves, C. Almeida, S. Fernandes, J. Silva, L. Ferras, et al. Unique t(Y;1)(q12;q12) reciprocal translocation with loss of the heterochromatic region of chromosome 1 in a male with azoospermia due to meiotic arrest: a case report Hum. Reprod., March 1, 2005; 20(3): 689 - 696. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
M. Sousa, N. Cremades, J. Silva, C. Oliveira, L. Ferraz, J.T. da Silva, P. Viana, and A. Barros Predictive value of testicular histology in secretory azoospermic subgroups and clinical outcome after microinjection of fresh and frozen-thawed sperm and spermatids Hum. Reprod., July 1, 2002; 17(7): 1800 - 1810. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||


