Reproduction Abstracts

Until recently the mammalian oviducts or fallopian tubes were regarded as inert organs that provide a passive racecourse where spermatozoa compete against each other to reach the egg. Recent evidence suggests, however, that the female reproductive tract recognises the arrival of spermatozoa and initiates changes in gene expression and protein secretion profiles. We have observed that X- and Y-chromosome bearing spermatozoa alter gene expression in the maternal tract in differe...

Introduction: This project aims to investigate the nature of cryo-induced DNA damage in the spermatozoa of the model species Xenopus tropicalis. We have turned to Xenopus as a tool to achieve this because the genome is available and we aim to identify specific genomic regions that are most affected during sperm cryopreservation.Materials and methods: The sperm chromatin dispersion (SCD) test was used to show DNA damage and the potent DN...