Reproduction Abstracts

Introduction: Betamethasone is a drug of choice for antenatal treatment. The aim of the present work was to evaluate the age of puberty onset and sperm quality in male rats whose mothers received betamethasone during gestation.Material and methods: Pregnant Wistar rats were allocated into control group and treated with 0.1 mg/kg betamethasone on gestational days 12, 13, 18, and 19. Maternal weight gain and the following parameters of male offspring (...

Human ejaculates are heterogeneous, and can be comprised of different subpopulations. We have shown that mitochondrial activity varied within ejaculates, and that sperm with high mitochondrial activity were more functionally relevant. Mitochondria are also known to produce reactive oxygen species (ROS), which have been implicated both in sperm function, and in causing gamete dysfunction, depending on amounts and timing of production. We have applied several fluorescent probes ...

Introduction: Hypothalamo–pituitary–testicular feedback is intact in the ovine fetus. Exogenous testosterone suppresses fetal LH and testicular steroidogenesis to maintain normal circulating testosterone concentrations. INSL3 is a non-steroidal hormone secreted by the fetal testis whose roles include facilitating testicular descent. We hypothesised that the homeostatic response to increased androgens would have a detrimental effect on fetal INSL3 expression....

Introduction: Onset timing of meiosis is different between the two sexes in mammals. In the mouse, meiosis in the ovary initiates during late stages of the second trimester, whereas germ cells in the testis at the same stage enter mitotic arrest and do not initiate meiosis until postpartum. In the present study, I have studied effects of ovarian steroids on the formation of synaptonemal complex in the neonatal mouse testis.Materials and methods:...

Introduction: For two decades, an antibody recognizing germ cell nuclear antigen (GCNA) has been widely used to identify mouse germ cells. The antigen, highly germ cell specific and expressed coincident with a key developmental transition as migrating germ cells enter the gonad, has heretofore not been identified. Here, we reveal GCNA as the founding member of a novel, ancient family of germ cell enriched proteins found across eukaryotes, including all major animal classes, pl...