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Zygote

Table of Contents - 2005 - Volume 13, Issue 01  


Round spermatids stained with MitoTracker can be used to produce offspring more simply

Takafusa Hikichi a1c1, Satoshi Kishigami a1, Nguyen Van Thuan a1, Hiroshi Ohta a1, Eiji Mizutani a2, Sayaka Wakayama a3 and Teruhiko Wakayama a1
a1 Center for Developmental Biology, RIKEN Kobe, 2-2-3 Minatojima-minamimachi, Kobe 650-0047, Japan.
a2 Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University, Sendai 981-8555, Japan.
a3 Department of Life Science, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Kobe University, Kobe 657-8501, Japan.

Article author query
hikichi t   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 
kishigami s   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 
van thuan n   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 
ohta h   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 
mizutani e   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 
wakayama s   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 
wakayama t   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 

Abstract

Although both intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and round spermatid injection (ROSI) are used in infertility treatments, the rate of offspring achieved with ROSI is low compared with that achieved with ICSI. The difficulty in correctly selecting round spermatids from testicular cells is one of the causes of this phenomenon. We easily selected live round spermatids from testicular cells stained with 20 nM MitoTracker, which visualizes mitochondria without killing the cell. Using this method, we divided round spermatids into three groups based on the polarization of their mitochondria, and performed ROSI. The rate of successful offspring achieved with MitoTracker-stained ROSI was the same in all groups. This indicates that changes in the polarization of mitochondria in round spermatids are not directly related to the developmental capacity of subsequently fertilized embryos. Because this staining has no harmful effects on embryo development, the selection of spermatids by MitoTracker under a fluorescence microscope should be useful in research into and the treatment of infertility.

(Received September 23 2004)
(Accepted December 7 2004)


Key Words: Fertilization; MitoTracker; Oocyte; ROSI; Round spermatid.

Correspondence:
c1 All correspondence to: T. Hikichi, 2-2-3 Minatojima-minamimachi Chuo-ku, Kobe 650-0047, Japan. Tel: +81 78 3063049. Fax: +81 78 3060101.

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