STUDIES ON SPERM CHROMATIN STRUCTURE ALTERATIONS AND CYTOGENETIC DAMAGE OF MOUSE SPERM FOLLOWING IN-VITRO INCUBATION - STUDIES ON IN-VITRO-INCUBATED MOUSE SPERM

Mouse epididymal sperm incubated in Tyrode's T6 fertilization media we re analyzed over time for chromosome damage by two methods. First, cyt ogenetic analysis was done on paternal pronuclei metaphase chromosomes . After 6 hours incubation 11% of the cells demonstrated chromosome st ructural abnormalities. Secondly, sperm nuclei were measured by the sp erm chromatin structure assay, which is a measure of the susceptibilit y of sperm DNA to the nuclei demonstrated an increased susceptibility to DNA denaturation, reaching near 100% by 48 hours. Changes in chroma tin structure at the molecular level may lead to chromosome breaks see n in-pronuclear chromosomes.