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The role of integrins in gametes prior to fertilization and during their interaction
Foldynová, Veronika ; Komrsková, Kateřina (advisor) ; Tlapáková, Tereza (referee)
Integrins are heterodimeric transmembrane glycoproteins that represent a large group of cell adhesion receptors involved in cell-cell, cell-extracellular matrix and cell-pathogen interacti- ons. Up to now, 24 different integrin heterodimers have been detected in mammals. They are involved in a wide range of processes such as immune response, lymphocyte homing, platelet aggregation, also in wound healing, cell differentiation, migration, proliferation and even in cell survival. Integrins have also been detected on germ cells and are now known to play an important role in reproductive processes such as fertilization, embryo implan- tation, and embryonic development. The main aim of this thesis is to introduce integrins from the perspective of reproduction, integrin physiology, occurrence and localization of individual subunits in male and female germ cells. A significant part of the work is devoted to a discussion of the role of integrins in gametes, both during maturation processes (egg maturation in the ovary, capacitation and the acrosomal reaction of sperm), in sperm mi- gration, oviductal reservoir formation and their direct and indirect involvement in adhesion and fusion of the gametes during fertilization. Keywords: integrins, sperm, egg, fusion, fertilization
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Methods of sperm selection for human and veterinary assisted reproduction
Pavlová, Hana ; Komrsková, Kateřina (advisor) ; Koubek, Pavel (referee)
Sperm selection is an important process influencing the progress of fertilization and the quality of resulting embryos. Competent sperm cells can be isolated from an ejaculate sample according to different criteria. Standard methods allow for sperm selection based on conventional parameters, particularly motility and density. Using advanced methods, sperm cells are selected according to molecular aspects including for instance membrane charge, presence of specific receptors, molecules indicating ongoing apoptosis, and others. The latter procedures are widely used particularly in human practice. Their use is uneconomical in veterinary practice and standard methods including the centrifugation step in the procedure are primarily used to select the sperm of livestock. Sperm cells of livestock are also often selected according to whether it carries the X or Y chromosome. Thus, the sex of the offspring can be effectively determined in order to increase the efficiency of the production of animal products. This thesis presents the most frequently used methods of sperm selection for the purpose of oocyte fertilization in human and veterinary sectors of assisted reproduction and discusses their impact on the parameters and fertilization potential of isolated cells.
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The role of LINC complex in male germinal cells
Kmoníčková, Věra ; Komrsková, Kateřina (advisor) ; Knop, Filip (referee)
LINC (linker of the nucleoskeleton and cytoskeleton) complex is substantial for the overall function of any nuclear cell. It is a bridge between the cytoplasmic and nuclear structures which mediates transmission of mechanical forces generated on the cytoplasmic side. The main objective of this thesis is the function of distinct variants of the LINC complexes in mammalian male germinal cells throughout their development. The nuclear facing side of the LINC complex is a key player in homolog pairing and rapid chromosome movements during meiosis. The cytoplasmic facing side is necessary for the sperm head formation, proper acrosome and nucleus attachment. Evenly, another complex is essential for the head-to-tail coupling as without this one the sperm cells are found decapitated. If the subunits of the LINC complex are defective, males are afflicted with different kinds of infertilities, which nowadays is one of the important issues of our society. Many things about the role and structure of the LINC complex has been discovered due to modern technologies. These up to date findings are summarized and discussed on the following pages.
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Epignetic Modifications of the Sperm and the Application in Clinical Practice of Human Assisted Reproduction Therapy
Štiavnická, Miriama ; Nevoral, Jan (advisor) ; Kloudová, Soňa (referee) ; Vašíček, Jaromír (referee)
Basement of healthy embryo development comes from quality of oocytes and spermatozoa. Today, when percentage of couples suffering infertility together with assisted reproductive therapy (ART) is increasing, understanding to gamete biology and heritable epigenetic code is crucial. The study is focused on promising epigenome based markers that could serve as indicators of gamete quality for either their screening or selection for ART. Accordingly selected markers were used for the investigation of environmental pollutant bisphenol S (BPS) effect on gametes quality. To obtain these aims, we have used human semen samples, boar semen samples and ICR mice gametes. Samples were analyzed by flow cytometry, immunocytochemistry and western blot analysis. All experimental work was in accordance with Ethics committee University Hospital in Pilsen and approved experimental designs for appropriate experimental animal project. In the study, we detected the dimethylation of histone H3 on lysine K4 (H3K4me2) as potential epigenetic marker of sperm quality and chromatin immaturity. Secondly, we observed the role of the gasotransmitter hydrogen sulphide (H2S) as anti-capacitating agents, slowing down capacitation possibly through post-translational modification of proteins. Thirdly, SIRT1 histone deacetylase was...
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Chemical communication of gametes
Otčenášková, Tereza ; Komrsková, Kateřina (advisor) ; Petr, Jaroslav (referee)
Fertilization is a multiple step process leading to fusion of female and male gametes resulting in a formation of a zygote. Besides direct gamete interaction via binding receptors localized on both oocyte and sperm surface, fertilization also involves communication based on chemical molecules triggering various signalling pathways. This work is aimed to characterize chemical communication of gametes of a model organism Mus musculus. For this purpose, modern proteomic and visualisation methods like nano-liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (nLC-MS/MS), selected reaction monitoring (SRM) and immunofluorescent microscopy were used. Lipocalins were identified as candidate proteins involved in communication including those from major urinary proteins (MUPs), LCN lipocalins and fatty acid binding proteins (FABPs). For the first time, we report their presence in the sperm acrosome. Based on lipocalins capacity to bind and transport other molecules, we propose that these proteins have a protective and/or signalling role for gametes. Furthermore, chemical communication between sperm and oocyte is based on chemotaxis which enables their interaction before their fusion. In this work, we detected that spermatozoa show chemotactic responses in the presence of L-glutamate. This amino acid naturally...
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Sperm centrioles and their role in reproduction
Vlčková, Monika ; Frolíková, Michaela (advisor) ; Liška, František (referee)
Centrioles are evolutionarily conserved protein structures composed of microtubules. In somatic cells, centrioles serve as the basal body of cilia and flagella and allow the assembly of pericentriolar material, thereby creating the centrosome. Without centrosome, animal cells are not capable of nuclear division. Centrioles do not arise de novo and their formation always requires the presence of a preexisting centriole. Since there are no centrioles in the egg at the time of fertilization, unlike spermatozoa, sperm is the carrier of centrioles and therefore all of the centrioles of the emerging organism are of paternal origin. There are two centrioles in the sperm - a cylindrical shape proximal and a distal one, which is perpendicular to the proximal. The sperm centrioles are the basis for the formation of the sperm flagellum and after fertilization form the mitotic spindle of the zygote, necessary for equal DNA and cell distribution. It follows from the above that the presence of centrioles in sperm is essential in mammals and defects in their structure may lead to male sterility or embryo development disorders. However, sperm centrioles differ from somatic centrioles in their structure and behavior and understanding these differences is one of the important tasks of reproductive biology.
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Effect of sperm ubiquitination in early embryonic development of porcine embryos
Petelák, Aleš ; Krylov, Vladimír (advisor) ; Šušor, Andrej (referee) ; Procházka, Radek (referee)
The PhD thesis is focused on the effect of porcine sperm cell extracellular ubiquitination on early embryonic development up to the blastocyst stage after ICSI. In addition, it also presents a potential improvement of the technique of in vitro fertilization using oocyte incubation with ion channels regulators. To address these aims, we established an entirely novel methodology for sperm cell sorting using flow cytometry and subsequent cryopreservation. We determined the conditions for successful sperm cell sorting based on extracellular ubiquitination rate providing highly specific selection as well as sufficient numbers of viable sperms for fertilization using the ICSI method. Concerning the following cryopreservation, established methods were optimized to enable freezing of a minimal sperm cell suspension volume with low cell numbers. The performed experiments showed a direct relationship between the rate of extracellular ubiquitination and the capability of sperms to give rise to a properly developing embryo. Highly ubiquitinated sperm cells were less successful regarding the embryonic development to the blastocyst stage if compared with the lowly ubiquitinated group (6,2 % vs. 16,7 %, P<0,001). Interestingly, the rate of extracellular ubiquitination showed no effect on the pronuclear formation...
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Effect of Type 2 diabetes on the mouse reproductive parametres
Stiborová, Martina ; Pěknicová, Jana (advisor) ; Nagyová, Eva (referee)
Infertility is defined as an inability to conceive a child within one year of regular sexual intercourse. It affects up to 15 % of couples worldwide (WHO, 2010). The male factor contributes to the total infertility with more than 50 %. Fertility of a man is influenced by several factors such as genetic background, environment and various diseases such as diabetes mellitus (DM). Diabetes mellitus is a serious health problem that affects 451 million people worldwide (18-99 years) and the number of people with this disease still increases (Cho a spol., 2018). In addition, parenthood is postponed to middle age when the fertility decreases and metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) appear. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the effect of type 2 diabetes on reproductive parameters of mouse inbred line C57BL/6J compared to the control group and the possible effect of paternal diabetes on the first filial generation. In the evaluation of the effect of DM2 on reproductive parameters, we used innovative methods to study internal state of sperm and testes. Results of our work showed that DM2 influenced the weight of body, prostate and liver. The weight of testes, epididymis and liver was reduced in the offspring. Furthermore, sperm morphology and intraacrosomal protein status were...
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Cytoskeleton-membrane protein interaction network in sperm
Adamová, Zuzana ; Komrsková, Kateřina (advisor) ; Tolde, Ondřej (referee)
In order to fertilize the egg, sperm cell undergoes several subsequent maturation processes. The final one called acrosome reaction is an exocytosis of acrosome vesicle, which is filled with lytic enzymes. Acrosome reaction is crucial for penetration of the sperm cell through the egg surroundings, especially zona pellucida, as well as for reorganization of a membrane protein composition on its surface. This rearrangement leads to the exposure of proteins essential for fertilization, mainly for gamete recognition, binding and fusion in specific compartments of the sperm head. One of such protein is CD46, which is located in the acrosomal membrane of an intact sperm and after acosomal exocytosis it relocates to the equatorial segment of a sperm head, which is known to be the initial site of interaction of sperm with the egg plasma membrane. The relocation of CD46 is disrupted by inhibition of actin, which reorganization within sperm head is known to play a role in onset of acrosome reaction, however, the precise mechanism of CD46 interaction with actin in sperm is unknown. In this thesis, ezrin - a crosslinker of membrane proteins and actin - has been studied in context of CD46 and its relocation across the sperm head. Analysis of the immunofluorescent detection of ezrin revealed its mutual...
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Sperm acrosomal reactien in selected species of mammals
Frolíková, Michaela
Mammalian sperm must undergo the process of capacitation - series of physiological and biochemical modifications prior fertilization. In last stage of capacitation sperm undergoes acrosome reaction (AR). During AR the cell membrane of the sperm fuses with the outer acrosomal membrane and the contents of acrosomal vesicle are released into extracellular space. Sperm which did not undergo AR or sperm missing acrosome at all are unable to fertilize. AR results into dramatical changes in the sperm head. Most of the proteins present in plasmatic and outer acrosomal membrane are reorganized or lost. There are also significant changes in cytoskeletal and intraacrosomal proteins are released to extracellular space uncovering new surface domains. Some sperms undergo AR even without presence of inductor of AR during capacitation in vitro. This event is called spontaneous (accelerated) AR. The latest research indicates that spontaneous AR is natural part of the process of fertilization. Field mice (Apodemus) show high level of promiscuity leading to significant risk of sperm competition. Unique reproduction strategy where the sperms form so-called sperm trains was evolved in field mice. Spontaneous AR is probably enabling the dissociation of sperms from the sperm train. The spontaneous AR rate is dependent on...
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