Sperm Quality and Embryo Development
A special issue of Cells (ISSN 2073-4409).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021)
Special Issue Editor
Interests: sperm; fertility; male; assisted reproductive technologies; embryo; proteomics; genomics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Coleagues,
Gametes affect embryo quality, a key determinant of successful pregnancy and offspring health. For a long time, sperm were largely regarded as a vehicle to transport a haploid genome. However, recent studies have emphasized the importance of sperm quality in the success of assisted reproductive technologies in animals and humans. Diet, obesity, aging, stress, lifestyle, sperm manipulation techniques, and other environmental factors influence sperm quality, preimplantation embryo development, fetal growth, postnatal viability, and the long-term health of the offspring. An elevated testicular temperature decreases sperm quality and embryos resulting from fertilization, with these sperm having lower developmental competence. However, underlying molecular mechanisms remain unknown. Increased sperm DNA damage impairs preimplantation embryo development and reduces rates of implantation, pregnancy, and delivery of a viable fetus at term. Sperm proteins serve as biomarkers for predicting the outcome of reproductive technologies. The sperm miRNA profile can be influenced by paternal age and is involved in the regulation and establishment of a healthy pregnancy. Telomere length may have the potential to predict male fertility potential. The sperm epigenome is susceptible to environmental impacts, and epigenetic changes in sperm affect embryo development. Although physiological reactive oxygen species (ROS) concentrations are integral in sperm capacitation, excessive ROS production is deleterious to paternal genetic and epigenetic contributions to the developing embryo, compromising its developmental competence. This Special Issue offers an open access forum that aims to bring together a collection of original research and review articles addressing recent advances in our knowledge of sperm quality and its contributions to the developmental competence of embryos, success of assisted reproductive technologies, pregnancy, live birth, and health of the offspring. We hope to provide an excellent literature resource for the exciting topic of sperm quality and embryo development. Suggested potential topics include contributions on the following aspects of sperm quality and embryo development: heat stress, ROS, RNA, chromatin structure, sperm manipulation techniques, environmental factors, proteomics, and epigenome.
Dr. Jacob Thundathil
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Cells is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- sperm
- embryo
- ROS
- RNA
- DNA integrity
- Sperm manipulation
- environmental impacts
- proteomics
- genomics
- epigenome
- Assisted reproductive technologies
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