The influence of sex chromosomes on the outcome of human embryo development

[摘要] CHAPTER 1 presents comprehensive background information regarding all aspectsaddressed in this thesis. Special attention was given to literature on paternal influenceson embryonic development, the role of sperm RNA, sperm chromatin and spermfunctional aspects i.e. morphology and acrosomal status and size. The experimentaldesign and all relevant methods used during the study as well as the material that wereused are presented in CHAPTER 2. The results of the different techniques andevaluations are provided in CHAPTER 3. It was found that 70% of the embryos thatshowed no developmental potential were Y-chromosome bearing embryos. The spermselection process for ICSI based on the approach of choosing the 'best looking'spermatozoon in the ejaculate seem to provide cells that can be classified as normalbased on the length width ratio set by the WHO for normal cells. The chromatinpackaging quality of the sperm correlated significantly and negatively with thepercentage normal cells in the ejaculates. CHAPTER 4 comprises of a generaldiscussion of the results and short summary of the major findings during the project.The discussion section focused on the paternal influence on the embryonicdevelopment and provided a suggestion for future research that can possibly lead tothe use of X-chromosome bearing sperm in case of severe male factor cases.CHAPTER 5 contains the bibliographical information of the study.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University