Sperm Disorders

A sperm is the male reproductive component that fertilizes an egg. Sperm are of a surprising low quality, but additional problems can hinder reproductive efforts. The sperm may be unable to swim s...

Motility Disorders

Impaired sperm emission

Intracytoplasmic sperm injection

Irritable Bowel Syndrome IBS

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common but poorly understood chronic (long-term) condition where the normal functions of the bowel are disrupted. Symptoms of IBS include abdominal pain or discom...

Polarity: Merlin and ezrin get organized

The tumour suppressor neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2) restricts ezrin localization to establish cortical asymmetry and correctly position centrosomes and spindles during cell division in polarized epit...

Researchers develop sperm-sorting design that may aid couples undergoing in vitro fertilization

(Medical Xpress)—According to the World Health Organization, approximately 70 million couples experience infertility worldwide. Current data suggests that nearly one third of infertility disorders a...

Hormone and androgen receptor genes combined affect sperm motility

The combination of alleles for genes encoding the follicle-stimulating hormone receptor and androgen receptor has a significant impact on sperm motility, emphasising the importance of the genes in spe...

Set adrift: gene mutation can stop sperm from swimming

A gene mutation has been associated with sperm motility and production, offering new insights into male infertility....

Walnuts May Improve Sperm Quality

Healthy young men with a Western-style diet may be able to boost their sperm quality by eating a small packet of walnuts a day. These are the findings of a new study that shows healthy American men in...

Advances in motility testing—current and novel approaches

Gastrointestinal motility disorders are common in clinical practice. In this Review, the authors present an overview of the currently available gastrointestinal motility and function tests that are us...

Fitness for toad sperm: Secret is to mate frequently

Fertility tests frequently reveal that males have problems with the quality of their sperm.  The problems often relate to sperm senescence, which is a reduction in quality with age.  Sperm senescenc...

A pack of walnuts a day keeps the fertility specialist away?

A paper published 15 August 2012 in Biology of Reproduction's Papers-in-Press reveals that eating 75 grams of walnuts a day improves the vitality, motility, and morphology of sperm in healthy men aged...

The role of ezrin-associated protein network in human sperm capacitation.

Membrane modifications in sperm cells represent a key step in sperm capacitation; however, the molecular basis of these modifications is not fully understood. Ezrin is the best-studied member of the e...

Effects of extracellular environment factors on the motility in Japanese eel spermatozoa.

We examined the effects in vitro of the ionic composition, pH and temperature on the motility by the spermatozoa of the Japanese eel (Anguilla japonica). Milt were obtained from 10 males that had been...

The toxic effect of opioid analgesics on human sperm motility in vitro.

Opioid analgesics are the most common therapeutic analgesic for acute pain. In this study, the toxicological and pharmacological features of a group of opioid analgesics were characterized by the moti...

Small molecule inhibitors of ezrin inhibit the invasive phenotype of osteosarcoma cells.

Ezrin is a multifunctional protein that connects the actin cytoskeleton to the extracellular matrix through transmembrane proteins. High ezrin expression is associated with lung metastasis and poor su...

Control of APN/CD13 and NEP/CD10 on sperm motility.

Aminopeptidase N (APN/CD13) and neutral endopeptidase (NEP/CD10) are enzymes present in human sperm cells and involved in regulation of sperm motility of noncapacitated spermatozoa. We investigated th...