Changes in Sperm Morphology, Morphometry, and Motility from the Epididymis to the Vas Deferens in Rheas (<i>Rhea americana</i>, Linnaeus, 1758)

The objective was to characterize morphological, morphometric, and ultrastructural changes in rhea spermatozoa between the epididymis and the vas deferens. Sperm samples were collected from the reproductive tracts of seven adult individuals and evaluated for sperm characteristics using brightfield microscopy as well as ultrastructural features using scanning electron microscopy (SM). Mean sperm count tended to increase in the vas deferens (378.0 ± 135.0 × 106) compared to the epididymis (201.0 ± 77.4 × 106). Percentages of motile sperm grew from 37.0 ± 4.9% in the epididymis to 58.5 ± 7.7% in the vas deferens. The proportion of normal spermatozoa was 75.6 ± 1.8% and most common defects were bent tails (9.7 ± 0.9%). However, these proportions were not different between epididymis and vas deferens. SM analysis revealed further features of rhea spermatozoa. Normal rhea spermatozoa were threadlike with an acrosome (0.95 ± 0.0 µm), head (7.53 ± 0.01 µm), midpiece (2.08 ± 0.01 µm), and tail (30.7 ± 0.06 µm). Lengths of sperm acrosome, head, midpiece, and tail were longer in the vas deferens compared to the epididymis. Our findings suggest that rhea spermatozoa undergo a maturation process during the passage from the epididymis to the vas deferens

Effect of Diluents and Storage Time on the Cryopreservation of Collared Peccary (<i>Pecari tajacu</i>) Semen after Cooling Storage in a Transport Container at 5 °C

We verified the possibility of cooling peccary semen for 4, 24, and 48 h before cryopreservation, using different dilution media (TRIS + egg yolk (20%) and PRIMXcell Ultra). Ten ejaculates were divided equally into six aliquots and then diluted. Two aliquots were stored in a biological incubator (4 h), and the remaining aliquots were stored in a commercial container, the Botutainer® (24 and 48 h), both at 5 °C. The samples were cryopreserved and then evaluated for kinetic parameters, functionality, integrity, mitochondrial activity, morphology, and sperm binding capacity. After thawing, samples diluted in TRIS showed total motility of 43.4 ± 6.8%, 48.4 ± 6.2%, and 38.6 ± 5.0% after cooling for 4, 24, and 48 h before cryopreservation, respectively. Such results are significantly greater than those achieved with the use of PRIMXcell diluent for 4 (8.3 ± 2.8%), 24 (4.7 ± 1.4%), and 48 h (4.8 ± 2.9%) storage (p p < 0.05). In summary, we suggest TRIS diluent + egg yolk (20%) as an effective option to allow semen to cool for 24 or 48 h in a transport container before cryopreservation

Experimental chemotherapy for Chagas disease: 15 years of research contributions from in vivo and in vitro studies

Submitted by Sandra Infurna ([email protected]) on 2019-01-08T14:12:41Z No. of bitstreams: 1 anissa_dallari_etal_IOC_2009.pdf: 825085 bytes, checksum: 9bf36bfb2828e5f277ec81a8b8da9e06 (MD5)Approved for entry into archive by Sandra Infurna ([email protected]) on 2019-01-08T14:21:23Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 anissa_dallari_etal_IOC_2009.pdf: 825085 bytes, checksum: 9bf36bfb2828e5f277ec81a8b8da9e06 (MD5)Made available in DSpace on 2019-01-08T14:21:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 anissa_dallari_etal_IOC_2009.pdf: 825085 bytes, checksum: 9bf36bfb2828e5f277ec81a8b8da9e06 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Laboratório de Biologia Celular. Rio de Janeiro, RJ. Brasil / Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Programa Integrado de Doença de Chagas. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Programa Integrado de Doença de Chagas. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Laboratório de Biologia Celular. Rio de Janeiro, RJ. Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Laboratório de Biologia Celular. Rio de Janeiro, RJ. Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Laboratório de Biologia Celular. Rio de Janeiro, RJ. Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Laboratório de Biologia Celular. Rio de Janeiro, RJ. Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Laboratório de Biologia Celular. Rio de Janeiro, RJ. Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Laboratório de Biologia Celular. Rio de Janeiro, RJ. Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Laboratório de Biologia Celular. Rio de Janeiro, RJ. Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Laboratório de Biologia Celular. Rio de Janeiro, RJ. Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Laboratório de Biologia Celular. Rio de Janeiro, RJ. Brasil.Universidade Federal de Goiás. Campus Jataí. Jataí, GO, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Laboratório de Biologia Celular. Rio de Janeiro, RJ. Brasil.Georgia State University. Department of Chemistry. Atlanta, Georgia, USA.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Laboratório de Biologia Celular. Rio de Janeiro, RJ. Brasil.Chagas disease, which is caused by the intracellular parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, is a neglected illness with 12-14 million reported cases in endemic geographic regions of Latin America. While the disease still represents an important public health problem in these affected areas, the available therapy, which was introduced more than four decades ago, is far from ideal due to its substantial toxicity, its limited effects on different parasite stocks, and its poor activity during the chronic phase of the disease. For the past 15 years, our group, in collaboration with research groups focused on medicinal chemistry, has been working on experimental chemotherapies for Chagas disease, investigating the biological activity, toxicity, selectivity and cellular targets of different classes of compounds on T. cruzi. In this report, we present an overview of these in vitro and in vivo studies, focusing on the most promising classes of compounds with the aim of contributing to the current knowledge of the treatment of Chagas disease and aiding in the development of a new arsenal of candidates with anti-T. cruzi efficacy

The Omicron Lineages BA.1 and BA.2 (<i>Betacoronavirus</i> SARS-CoV-2) Have Repeatedly Entered Brazil through a Single Dispersal Hub

Brazil currently ranks second in absolute deaths by COVID-19, even though most of its population has completed the vaccination protocol. With the introduction of Omicron in late 2021, the number of COVID-19 cases soared once again in the country. We investigated in this work how lineages BA.1 and BA.2 entered and spread in the country by sequencing 2173 new SARS-CoV-2 genomes collected between October 2021 and April 2022 and analyzing them in addition to more than 18,000 publicly available sequences with phylodynamic methods. We registered that Omicron was present in Brazil as early as 16 November 2021 and by January 2022 was already more than 99% of samples. More importantly, we detected that Omicron has been mostly imported through the state of São Paulo, which in turn dispersed the lineages to other states and regions of Brazil. This knowledge can be used to implement more efficient non-pharmaceutical interventions against the introduction of new SARS-CoV variants focused on surveillance of airports and ground transportation