scholarly journals Effect of Repeated Freezing and Thawing on Nguni Sperm Parameters Evaluated by Computer Assisted Sperm Analyzer System

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Masindi Lottus Mphaphathi ◽  
Tshimangadzo Lucky Nedambale
1984 ◽  
Vol 247 (5) ◽  
pp. C373-C381 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. J. Armitage ◽  
P. Mazur

Human granulocytes are injured when returned to isotonic conditions after exposure at 0 degree C to hyperosmotic solutions of NaCl or sucrose with osmolalities above 0.6 osmolal. The damage was expressed as a loss of membrane integrity [fluorescein diacetate (FDA) assay] only after 60-90 min incubation at 37 degrees C. Survival after exposure to a 1.4-osmolal solution at 0 degree C was dependent on the extent of subsequent dilution. Dilution to below 0.6 osmolal was damaging, but cells could be returned to near-osmotic conditions provided that the solute concentration was increased again to 0.64 osmolal before the cells were incubated at 37 degrees C. Granulocyte cell volumes were measured under various osmotic conditions by computer-assisted micrometry. The cells did not display a minimum volume but behaved as osmometers over the observed range of 0.2-1.4 osmolal. Granulocyte volume at a given osmolality was independent of whether the cells had first been exposed to a strongly hyperosmotic medium, indicating that no solute loading occurred in hyperosmotic sucrose solutions. Even though the cells did not survive sequential exposure to greater than 0.6 osmolal solutions, subsequent return to isotonicity, and incubation at 37 degrees C, neither cell lysis nor loss in FDA-positive cells occurred after the first two steps. This finding is not consistent with the critical-surface area-increment theory of freezing injury. The mechanism of cell injury in hyperosmotic solutions is thus not known. However, the results show that osmotic stress is potentially a major damaging factor both in the equilibration of cells with protective additives and during freezing and thawing.


1968 ◽  
Vol 128 (5) ◽  
pp. 1031-1048 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. G. Axline

The acid phosphatase activity of normal alveolar and BCG-induced alveolar macrophages has been examined. Five electrophoretically distinct forms of acid phosphatase have been identified in both normal and BCG-induced macrophages. The acid phosphatases can be divided into two major categories. One category, containing four distinct forms, is readily solubilized after repeated freezing and thawing or mechanical disruption The second category, containing one form, is firmly bound to the lysosomal membrane and can be solubilized by treatment of the lysosomal fraction with Triton X-100. The Triton-extractable acid phosphatase and the predominant aqueous soluble acid phosphatase have been shown to differ in the degree of membrane binding, in solubility, in net charge, and in molecular weight. The two pre-dominant phosphatases possess identical pH optimum and do not differ in response to enzyme inhibitors. BCG stimulation has been shown to result in a nearly twofold increase in acid phosphatase activity. A nearly proportionate increase in the major acid phosphatase forms has been observed.


1924 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 357-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oswald T. Avery ◽  
James M. Neill

In the present paper methods have been described for the preparation of sterile extracts of pneumococci. These extracts may be obtained by dissolving the bacteria in broth cultures by means of bile, or by extraction of the cellular substances by repeated freezing and thawing of broth or saline suspensions of unwashed cells. Under special precautions these extracts may be passed through Berkefeld filters without loss of potency. In this procedure, as in all other manipulations incident to their preparation, the extracts should be protected as far as possible from contact with air. All extracts were proved sterile by cultural and animal tests. Sterile extracts of unwashed pneumococcus cells promptly form peroxide on exposure to air. Peroxide formation is almost as active in extracts aerated at 2°C. as in those exposed to the air at room temperature. Detectable amounts of peroxide may be produced by these cell extracts within the reaction range of pH 5 to 9, the optimal zone lying at reactions less acid than pH 6. The peroxide-forming activity of the extracts is gradually diminished by prolonged exposure to 55°C., and is completely destroyed by heating at 65°C. for 5 minutes. Cell extracts of pneumococci which have been thoroughly washed prior to extraction in salt or phosphate solutions exhibit no peroxide-forming activity. These extracts of washed cells may be activated by the addition of the cell washings, yeast extract, or muscle infusion.


1997 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 453-457 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. Lautenschlager

Red raspberry (Rubus idaeus L.) seeds germinate only after seed coats are degraded. In nature this happens slowly. Seeds from recently collected fruit (fresh to four years old) germinated only after scarification of the seed coat by 20-minute soaking in concentrated sulfuric acid. Germination was not enhanced by: (1) short-term intermittent soaking, up to 81 hours, in dilute (0.01 normal) hydrochloric acid; (2) passage through the digestive tracts of bears, coyotes, or birds; (3) physical perturbations such as nicking, mechanical scarification, repeated freezing and thawing and/or four years of exposure in the field; (4) exposure to light; (5) increased temperatures or temperature fluctuations; or (6) addition of nitrogen (ammonium nitrate, urea). Key words: animal passage, germination, nitrogen, red raspberry, Rubus idaeus L., seed coat, seed weight, scarification, stratification


1991 ◽  
Vol 37 (7) ◽  
pp. 1225-1229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tetsuo Hirano ◽  
Toshiaki Yoneyama ◽  
Hiroko Matsuzaki ◽  
Takainitsu Sekine

Abstract We created a simple method for obtaining a series of successively more-concentrated samples from a serum without changing the ratio of its components. We froze a pooled serum and then allowed it to thaw undisturbed. The serum components formed a gradient of increasing concentration from the top of the sample to the bottom. We found that (a) in test results, each fraction of serum in the gradient showed almost the same relative concentrations of components (i.e., inorganic and organic compounds, proteins, metals, and hormones), irrespective of atomic or molecular mass; (b) the concentration gradient depended on the thawing temperature but not on the freezing temperature; (c) when we thawed the frozen sample with centrifugation, the slope of the concentration gradient increased with increasing centrifugal force; (d) when the thawed sample was fractionated into 10 fractions from the top to the bottom, the original serum concentration was always maintained between the sixth and seventh fractions from the top; and (e) the concentration gradient became steeper with repeated freezing and thawing. By using this method, one can easily prepare serum samples at gradients of concentration useful in the clinical laboratory, although the mechanism of gradient formation is still unclear.


1988 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 485-494 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. PAWLUK

Repeated freezing and thawing of glacial till cores of clay loam texture results in the formation of granic and metafragmic microfabrics. These units of fabric are best developed near the surface of cores kept at moisture levels between field capacity and saturation. Well-sorted lacustrine sediments with fewer voids tend to form banded fabrics. Many of the morphological features such as vesicles, metavughs and desiccation cracks commonly attributed to freeze-thaw processes are evident in all materials tested. Discrete units of fabric observed in this study are very similar to units of fabric observed in the Ah horizons of Black Chernozemic and Cryosolic soils. Results of this investigation strongly support earlier research which suggests that frost processes are major contributors to their microstructural development. Key words: Granic, freeze-thaw, microfabrics


1984 ◽  
Vol 99 (2) ◽  
pp. 418-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
B D Noe ◽  
M N Moran

Results from recent studies have indicated that pancreatic islet prohormone converting enzymes are membrane-associated in islet microsomes and secretory granules. This observation, along with the demonstration that proglucagon is topologically segregated to the periphery within alpha cell secretory granules in several species, led us to investigate the possibility that newly synthesized islet prohormones might be associated with intracellular membranes. Anglerfish islets were incubated with [3H]tryptophan and [14C]isoleucine for 3 h, then fractionated by differential and density gradient centrifugation. Microsome (M) and secretory granule (SG) fractions were halved, sedimented, and resuspended in the presence or absence of dissociative reagents. After membrane lysis by repeated freezing and thawing, the membranous and soluble components were separated by centrifugation. Extracts of supernatants and pellets were chromatographed by gel filtration; fractions were collected and counted. A high proportion (77-79%) of the newly synthesized proinsulin and insulin was associated with both M and SG membranes. Most of the newly synthesized proglucagons and prosomatostatins (12,000-mol-wt precursors) were also membrane-associated (86-88%) in M and SG. In contrast, glucagon- and somatostatin-related peptides exhibited much less membrane-association in SG (24-31%). Bacitracin, bovine serum albumin EDTA, RNAse, alpha-methylmannoside, N-acetylglucosamine, and dithiodipyridine had no effect on prohormone association with membranes. However, high salt (1 M KCl) significantly reduced membrane-association of prohormones. Binding of labeled prohormones to SG membranes from unlabeled tissue increased with incubation time and was inhibited by unlabeled prohormones. The pH optimum for prohormone binding to both M and SG membranes was 5.2. It is suggested that association of newly synthesized prohormones with intracellular membranes could be related to the facilitation of proteolytic processing of prohormones and/or transport from their site of synthesis to the secretory granules.


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