Round spermatids from prepubertal mouse testis can develop into normal offspring.
We investigated fertilization and embryo development after intracytoplasmic injection of round spermatids collected from mice before puberty. The rates of normal fertilization, blastocyst formation, and development into live offspring were examined. The injection of oocytes with round spermatids from mature or prepubertal males resulted in similar rates of normal fertilization and embryo development. The rates of the development to term of two-cell embryos were also similar, regardless of the origin of the round spermatids injected. This finding suggests that round spermatids from the prepubertal testis already have the ability to fertilize normally and to allow normal embryo development.
Sasagawa
I
I
Department of Urology, Yamagata University School of Medicine, Japan.
Tateno
T
T
Adachi
Y
Y
Kubota
Y
Y
Nakada
T
T
D000818:Animals; D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D009865:Oocytes; D013084:Sperm-Ovum Interactions; D013087:Spermatids / Q000254:growth & development*; D013737:Testis / Q000166:cytology*