Orientador: José Gonçalves Franco Júnior / Banca: Anagloria Pontes / Banca: José Carlos Peraçoli / Banca: Valdemar Ortiz / Banca: Mario Cavagna Neto / Resumo: Desde o primeiro relato de sucesso em humanos, a Injeção Intracitoplasmática de Espermatozóide (ICSI) tem sido particularmente indicada para casos de alterações seminais graves, sendo já demonstrada uma relação diretamente proporcional entre os resultados deste procedimento e a qualidade seminal. Tem sido sugerido que a incapacidade de o espermatozóide iniciar a ativação oocitária seja uma das principais causas de falha de fertilização após a ICSI. Estudos prévios identificaram o cálcio como um importante segundo mensageiro durante a ativação oocitária e que o tratamento com ionoforo do calcio e capaz de favorecer a ativação oocitária, resultando em fertilização, desenvolvimento embrionário e gestações normais. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar o efeito da Ativação Oocitária Artificial (AOA) com ionoforo do calcio A23187 em ciclos de ICSI quando utilizados espermatozóides de diferentes origens. Foram avaliados 314 ciclos de ICSI divididos em tres Grupos: EJACULADO (n = 92), EPIDIDIMARIO (n = 82) e TESTICULAR (n = 140), sendo cada um deles dividido em subgrupos, dependendo da realizacao (Subgrupo AOA) ou nao de AOA (Subgrupo Controle . CT). Foram avaliados tambem separadamente os ciclos de mulheres com idade inferior a 36 anos, objetivando minimizar o efeito da idade sobre os resultados dos tratamentos. Para a ativação oocitária, os oócitos foram mantidos por 30 minutos apos a ICSI em meio de cultivo para AOA, contendo 5ÊM de ionoforo de calcio A23187 e em aproximadamente 20 horas a fertilizacao foi confirmada pela presenca de 2 Pro-Nucleos. Para cada grupo experimental foram comparados, entre os Subgrupos AOA e CT, os seguintes parametros: taxa de fertilizacao normal, taxa de falha parcial de fertilizacao, porcentagem de bons embrioes no dia da transferencia, taxa de gestacao clinica, taxa de implantacao e taxa de abortamento... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Since the first report of a birth after ICSI, it has been specially used for severe male factor of infertility and it was demonstrated that the semen quality influences the ICSI outcomes. Previous studies suggested that failure of fertilization after ICSI may be due to a spermatozoa inability in trigger the oocyte activation. Calcium has long been identified as a universally important second messenger during oocyte activation and many studies demonstrated that treatment with calcium ionophore may increase the free intracellular calcium, promoting oocyte activation, resulting in fertilization, embryo development and pregnancies. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of artificial oocyte activation (AOA) with calcium ionophore A23187 in ICSI cycles using sperm from different origins. It was evaluated 314 ICSI cycles divided in groups according to the origin of spermatozoa: EJACULATED group (n = 92), EPIDIDYMAL group (n = 82) and TESTICULAR group (n = 140). Each group was split into sub-groups depending on the AOA treatment: sub-group AOA, when it was performed AOA and sub-group Control-CT, when it was not performed AOA. Furthermore, it was evaluated separately only cycles in each woman were younger then 36 years old. After ICSI, oocytes were incubated in culture medium containing calcium ionophore A23187 (5ìM concentration) for 30 minutes and in approximately 20 hours oocytes were checked for normal fertilization, defined as observation of two distinct pronucleous. For each experimental group the following parameters were compared between the sub-groups AOA and CT: normal fertilization rate; partial fertilization fail rate; percentage of high quality embryos on the transfer day; implantation rate; pregnancy rate and miscarriage rate. For all the evaluated parameters, it was not observed any significant difference between the subgroups for the three spermatozoa origin groups.... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Doutor

Successful fertilization depends upon the activation of metaphase II arrested oocytes by sperm-borne oocyte activating factor (SOAF). Failure of oocyte activation is considered as the cause of treatment failure in a proportion of infertile couples. SOAF induces the release of intracellular calcium in oocyte which leads to meiotic resumption and pronuclear formation. Calcium release is either in the form of single calcium transient in echinoderm and amphibian oocytes or several calcium oscillations in ascidian and mammalian oocytes. Although the SOAF attributes are established, it is not clear which sperm protein(s) play such role. Sperm postacrosomal WW binding protein (PAWP) satisfies a developmental criteria set for a candidate SOAF. This study shows that recombinant human PAWP protein or its transcript acts upstream of calcium release and fully activates the amphibian and mammalian oocytes. Interference trials provided evidence for the first time that PAWP mediates sperm-induced intracellular calcium release through a PPXY/WWI domain module in Xenopus, mouse and human oocytes. Clinical applications of PAWP were further investigated by prospective study on the sperm samples from patients undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). PAWP expression level, analyzed by flow cytometry, was correlated to ICSI success rate and embryonic development. This study also explored the developmental expression of the other SOAF candidate, PLCζ in male reproductive system and its function during fertilization. Our findings showed for the first time that PLCζ most likely binds to the sperm head surface during epididymal passage and is expressed in epididymis. We demonstrated that PLCζ is also compartmentalized early in spermiogenesis and thus could play an important role during spermiogenesis. Detailed analysis of in vitro fertilization revealed that PLCζ disappears from sperm head during acrosome reaction and is not detectable during sperm incorporation into the oocyte cytoplasm. In conclusion, this dissertation provides evidence for the essential non-redundant role of sperm PAWP in amphibian and mammalian fertilization; recommends PAWP as a biomarker for prediction of ICSI outcomes in infertile couples; and proposes that sperm PLCζ may have functions other than inducing oocyte activation during fertilization. / Thesis (Ph.D, Anatomy & Cell Biology) -- Queen's University, 2013-09-29 23:45:35.395

In addition to contributing genes at fertilization, the sperm cell induces the oocyte to leave its arrested state and resume metabolism in the process of activation. A hallmark of oocyte activation is a release of intracellular calcium (Ca2+i) from the endoplasmic reticulum. The mediators of oocyte activation have been studied in many animal models, while little is known in the bovine model. Both Src Family Kinase (SFK) and Phospholipase C (PLC) enzymes have been reported to be involved in oocyte activation in other animal models. In this dissertation are described experiments that define the role of SFK and PLC enzymes in the pathway leading to Ca2+i and calcium induced calcium release in bovine oocyte activation. Western blotting was used to discover that SFKs Src, Hck, and Lck are present in matured bovine oocytes, and Src, Blk, and Yes are present in acrosome reacted bovine spermatozoa. The PLC δ1 and δ3 are present in both matured bovine oocytes and spermatozoa. PLC δ4, γ2, and η2 are present in matured bovine oocytes. Microinjecting a known general SFK inhibitor, PP2, significantly decreases both Ca2+i and cleavage rates. Microinjecting a 13 amino acid peptide that mimics the phosphorylated carboxyl terminal region of pp60c-src decreases both Ca2+i and cleavage rates. Microinjecting a downstream substrate of pp60c-src sequestered any signal produced by Src and decreased Ca2+i and cleavage rates. Microinjecting primary antibodies raised against PLC isotypes blocked both Ca2+i and cleavage rates, giving insight to the mechanism of calcium induced calcium release in the bovine model. The PLC isotypes δ3, δ4, and γ2 decreased Ca2+i oscillations and cleavage rates, indicating they are involved in both IP3R and RyR activation. PLC δ4 and η2 did not impact Ca2+i but did significantly decrease cleavage rates. The data presented in this dissertation increase the understanding of the pathway leading to bovine oocyte activation and further confirm that the detailed pathway differs among animal models.

Oocyte activation deficiency (OAD) is an infertile condition observed in patients who have experienced recurrent total fertilisation failure (TFF) following intracytoplasmic sperm injection treatment. This condition was considered to be an idiopathic factor for a long time but strong clinical evidence now suggests that dysfunctional forms of phospholipase C zeta (PLCζ) may be predominant causative factors for OAD. Genetic contribution has played a role in patients suspected of having OAD, as four PLCζ exonic mutations have been discovered and characterised as being the cause of infertility. In this study, a novel nonsense mutation, PLCζK322Stop, was identified in the PLCζ XY-linker region of Patient LR. This variant results in the truncation of approximately half of PLCζ, therefore was non-functional when activity was tested. Patient LR, which also exhibited a previously reported mutation, PLCζH233L, may suggest that the patient is sub-fertile, as opposed to being infertile, as initially expected. Although research has purely focused upon the coding regions of PLCζ, it was obvious that our knowledge of PLCζ regulatory elements remain very limited. Next generation sequencing (NGS) was therefore employed to detect variants in the non-coding regions of PLCζ, promoter and introns, which may have resulted in the observed phenotypic diversity of PLCζ expression in fertile and infertile patients. As a result of mapping failure, an alternative approach was considered to identify variants within human PLCζ, and this involved using the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) database. Over 2500 SNPs were localised in the intronic regions of PLCζ and thus, it could be speculated that these variants may help elucidate the wide variation of PLCζ expression reported. Additionally, two particular patients with TFF (79 and 107) were investigated in this study to identify an association with PLCζ and their infertile state. For Patient 79, multiple PLCζ immunofluorescence analysis was performed and a significant improvement in PLCζ expression was observed one year after his first investigation. This may have been the result of an external factor, which influenced protein expression. As for Patient 107, a novel substitution mutation, PLCζV193E, was identified and was predicted to affect PLCζ stability and folding. There is global interest to create a safer and alternative OAD therapy, namely a human recombinant PLCζ protein (hrPLCζ). The first method, using a bacterial cell line resulted in successful purification and identification but the product proved to be inactive following mouse oocyte microinjection. The second method involved production of a mammalian-expressed hrPLCζ, which was successfully purified and identified but due to time restrictions, could not be tested for functionality. Concurrently, the findings in this thesis have reinforced the association between PLCζ and OAD, and provided improved options for the diagnosis and treatment of OAD.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:32:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2007-11-23Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:24:31Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 borgesjunior_e_dr_botfm.pdf: 275485 bytes, checksum: 68fdbf94b0908ce788462bae7d5d1161 (MD5) / Cpdp - Centro Paulista de Pesquisa e Diagnostico / Desde o primeiro relato de sucesso em humanos, a Injeção Intracitoplasmática de Espermatozóide (ICSI) tem sido particularmente indicada para casos de alterações seminais graves, sendo já demonstrada uma relação diretamente proporcional entre os resultados deste procedimento e a qualidade seminal. Tem sido sugerido que a incapacidade de o espermatozóide iniciar a ativação oocitária seja uma das principais causas de falha de fertilização após a ICSI. Estudos prévios identificaram o cálcio como um importante segundo mensageiro durante a ativação oocitária e que o tratamento com ionoforo do calcio e capaz de favorecer a ativação oocitária, resultando em fertilização, desenvolvimento embrionário e gestações normais. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar o efeito da Ativação Oocitária Artificial (AOA) com ionoforo do calcio A23187 em ciclos de ICSI quando utilizados espermatozóides de diferentes origens. Foram avaliados 314 ciclos de ICSI divididos em tres Grupos: EJACULADO (n = 92), EPIDIDIMARIO (n = 82) e TESTICULAR (n = 140), sendo cada um deles dividido em subgrupos, dependendo da realizacao (Subgrupo AOA) ou nao de AOA (Subgrupo Controle . CT). Foram avaliados tambem separadamente os ciclos de mulheres com idade inferior a 36 anos, objetivando minimizar o efeito da idade sobre os resultados dos tratamentos. Para a ativação oocitária, os oócitos foram mantidos por 30 minutos apos a ICSI em meio de cultivo para AOA, contendo 5ÊM de ionoforo de calcio A23187 e em aproximadamente 20 horas a fertilizacao foi confirmada pela presenca de 2 Pro-Nucleos. Para cada grupo experimental foram comparados, entre os Subgrupos AOA e CT, os seguintes parametros: taxa de fertilizacao normal, taxa de falha parcial de fertilizacao, porcentagem de bons embrioes no dia da transferencia, taxa de gestacao clinica, taxa de implantacao e taxa de abortamento... / Since the first report of a birth after ICSI, it has been specially used for severe male factor of infertility and it was demonstrated that the semen quality influences the ICSI outcomes. Previous studies suggested that failure of fertilization after ICSI may be due to a spermatozoa inability in trigger the oocyte activation. Calcium has long been identified as a universally important second messenger during oocyte activation and many studies demonstrated that treatment with calcium ionophore may increase the free intracellular calcium, promoting oocyte activation, resulting in fertilization, embryo development and pregnancies. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of artificial oocyte activation (AOA) with calcium ionophore A23187 in ICSI cycles using sperm from different origins. It was evaluated 314 ICSI cycles divided in groups according to the origin of spermatozoa: EJACULATED group (n = 92), EPIDIDYMAL group (n = 82) and TESTICULAR group (n = 140). Each group was split into sub-groups depending on the AOA treatment: sub-group AOA, when it was performed AOA and sub-group Control-CT, when it was not performed AOA. Furthermore, it was evaluated separately only cycles in each woman were younger then 36 years old. After ICSI, oocytes were incubated in culture medium containing calcium ionophore A23187 (5ìM concentration) for 30 minutes and in approximately 20 hours oocytes were checked for normal fertilization, defined as observation of two distinct pronucleous. For each experimental group the following parameters were compared between the sub-groups AOA and CT: normal fertilization rate; partial fertilization fail rate; percentage of high quality embryos on the transfer day; implantation rate; pregnancy rate and miscarriage rate. For all the evaluated parameters, it was not observed any significant difference between the subgroups for the three spermatozoa origin groups.... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq / Development of bovine embryos produced by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is low compared to fertilized embryos. Deficient oocyte activation, inappropriate sperm capacitation, and lack of sperm decondensation are thought to be the main constrains affecting ICSI success in cattle. In the present study, activation compounds were tested to establish an effective protocol for activation of bovine oocytes, and then used for oocyte activation after ICSI. The activation approach consisted of exposing in vitro matured oocytes to Ionomycin (ION) following by a specific CDK1 inhibitor (RO-3306), a specific PKC activator (OAG) or both RO+OAG. In the first experiment, the rate of activation (pronuclear (PN) formation), cleavage, development to the blastocyst stage, and number of cells per blastocyst were evaluated after oocyte treatment. The PN rates were higher (P≤0.01) in the groups activated with ION+RO (48.5 %) and ION+RO+OAG (65.6 %) compared to ION (12.3 %) and ION+OAG (9.2 %). There was no significant effect between the RO concentrations tested (5, 7.5 and 10 μM) on oocyte activation. The PN rate was significantly higher (P≤0.01) when oocytes were exposed to RO for 240 min (84.6 %) compared to 60 (53.6 %) and 120 min (60.0 %). However, there was no difference between groups when treatment with RO started at 0, 30 or 60 min after on ION exposure. Cleavage rate was higher in ION+RO (70.2 %) and ION+RO+OAG (62.4 %) groups compared to ION (11.8 %) and ION+OAG (22.8 %). Blastocyst rate was also higher in the ION+RO+OAG (24.1 %) group, but not statistically different between ION+RO (19.7 %) and ION+OAG (9.5 %) groups. There was no development to the blastocyst stage after treatment with ION alone. The average cell number in blastocysts was not statistically different among treatments. In the second experiment, the effect of activation with ION+RO (10 μM for 240 min) was tested after ICSI using control (ICSI-Cont) or treated by electroporation (ICSI-El) sperm. Most oocytes presented a well-developed female PN (66.4%). Male PN formation was higher (P≤0.05) in the ICSI-El (33.3%) compared to the ICSI-Cont (9.4%) group. In conclusion, this study revealed that the specific inhibition of CDK1 after ION treatment is an effective approach to activate bovine oocytes. Male pronuclear formation after ICSI is increased by sperm electroporation, but is lower than female pronuclear formation. This indicates that deficient sperm decondensation and male PN formation rather than deficient oocyte activation is likely the main problem to develop an effective protocol for bovine ICSI. / O desenvolvimento de embriões bovinos produzidos por injeção intracitoplasmática de espermatozóides (ICSI) é baixo em relação aos embriões fertilizados. Deficiência na ativação de oócitos, capacitação inadequada de espermatozóides e falta de descondensação de espermatozóides são os principais transtornos que afetam o sucesso de ICSI em bovinos. No presente trabalho, foram testados métodos de ativação com o intuito de estabelecer um protocolo efetivo para a ativação de oócitos bovinos após a ICSI. Para isso, um inibidor específico de CDK1 (RO-3306) e um ativador específico de PKC (OAG) foram utilizados após a incubação com Ionomicina (ION) para avaliar a retomada da meiose em oócitos bovinos. Além disso, a incubação em meio Fert durante 6 h e a eletroporação (El) de espermatozoides previamente a ICSI foram testadas para verificar o efeito sobre a descondensação do espermatozoide e formação do pró-núcleo (PN) masculino. Inicialmente oócitos bovinos foram incubados, com diferentes concentrações e períodos de exposição aos tratamentos. Foram avaliados conforme a taxa de ativação oocitária (formação de PN), clivagem, desenvolvimento a blastocisto e número de células nos embriões que se desenvolveram a blastocisto. As taxas de PN foram maiores (P≤0,01) nos grupos ativados com ION+RO (48,5 %) e ION+RO+OAG (65,6 %) comparado com ION (12,3 %) e ION+OAG (9,2 %). Não houve efeito significativo entre as concentrações 5,0, 7,5 e 10,0 μM de RO sobre a taxa de ativação. A taxa de ativação foi significativamente maior (P≤0,01) em oócitos tratados com RO por 240 min (84,6 %) comparado a 60 (53,6 %) e 120 min (60,0%). No entanto, não houve diferença significativa na taxa de ativação quando o tratamento com RO foi iniciado a 0, 30 ou 60 minutos após a incubação com ION. A taxa de clivagem foi inferior nos grupos ION (11,8 %) e ION+OAG (22,8 %) comparada aos grupos ION+RO (70,2 %) e ION+RO+OAG (62,4 %). A taxa de blastocistos também foi maior no grupo ION+RO+OAG (24,1 %), mas não houve diferença estatística entre os grupos ION+RO (19,7 %) e ION+OAG (9,5 %). Não houve desenvolvimento a blastocisto quando os oócitos foram tratados somente com ION. Não foi detectada diferença estatística entre os tratamentos sobre o número médio de células por blastocistos. No segundo experimento, espermatozoides não tratados (ICSI-Cont) ou tratados por electroporação (ICSI-El) foram microinjetados em oócitos, os quais foram ativados com ION+RO por 240 min e fixados cerca de 15 h após a injeção para determinar a taxa de formação de PNs masculino e feminino (2PN). A maioria dos oócitos apresentaram o PN feminino bem desenvolvido (66,4 %). A formação de 2PN (masculino e feminino) foi maior no grupo ICSI-El (33,3 %) comparado ao grupo ICSI-Cont (9,4 %). Em conclusão, esse estudo demonstrou que a inibição específica da CDK1 após o tratamento com ION promove a ativação de oócitos bovinos. O tratamento de espermatozoides com eletroporação melhora a formação do PN masculino após ICSI, mas a taxa é inferior a formação do PN feminino. Esses resultados indicam que a deficiente descondensação do espermatozoide é o principal limitante para estabelecer um protocolo eficaz para ICSI em bovinos.