Role of Sport Vision in Performance: Systematic Review.

Sport Vision is a speciality of multidisciplinary interest aimed at improving the performance of the visual system to achieve benefits in practiced sports, as well as in daily life and in preventive care. The type of training practiced by the athlete, his or her physical condition, cognitive level, and level of fatigue condition affects the speed of the reaction time and, consequently, the speed of motor response. Specific orthoptic exercises, the use of technological devices, the recovery of static and dynamic postural stability by using unstable platforms and the dual-task paradigm can help to achieve the expected results.

Higher clusterin immunolabeling and sperm DNA damage levels in hypertensive men compared with controls.

Background: Clusterin, a heterodimeric glycoprotein found at several sites in the human male reproductive tract, could be a marker of morphologically abnormal spermatozoa, while TUNEL positivity indicates DNA fragmentation. Metabolic disorders such as diabetes mellitus and obesity may compromise sperm quality and fertility of men; however, little evidence specifically links hypertension with the impairment of male reproductive function.

Methods: By flow cytometric, immunofluorescence (TUNEL assay and clusterin immunolabeling) and immunohistochemical (peroxidase-streptavidin method) analyses, we have compared both clusterin- and TUNEL labeling in ejaculated spermatozoa from healthy normotensive donors and hypertensive subjects with the purpose to reveal possible differences between the two conditions.

Expression of a truncated form of KIT tyrosine kinase in human spermatozoa correlates with sperm DNA integrity.

Background: TR-KIT, a truncated form of KIT (the KITL receptor), corresponding to the c-terminal half of the intracellular split tyrosine kinase domain, is expressed during the haploid stages of mouse spermatogenesis, and is one of the candidate sperm factors possibly involved in egg activation at fertilization.

Methods: Immunocytochemistry of adult human testis, and studies of human semen samples from volunteer donors through immunofluorescence, confocal microscopy, flow cytometry, western blot and RT-PCR analyses were performed.

Results: We show that the TR-KIT is expressed during spermiogenesis in the human testis, and that it is maintained in human ejaculated spermatozoa.

Peculiar subcellular localization of Fas antigen in human and mouse spermatozoa.

The highly polarized structure and function of mammalian spermatozoa dictate that these cells compartmentalize specific metabolic and signaling pathways to regions where they are needed. Fas was initially identified as membrane receptor for pro-apoptotic signals, has been recently recognized as a molecule with pleiotropic functions. In this article, we provide evidence of a peculiar Fas localization: it is closely associated to the perinucleus, mainly at the level of the inner acrosomal membrane, as well as in the inner compartment of mitochondria.

Modulation of MAA-induced apoptosis in male germ cells: role of Sertoli cell P/Q-type calcium channels.

Spontaneous germ cell death by apoptosis occurs during normal spermatogenesis in mammals and is thought to play a role in the physiological mechanism limiting the clonal expansion of such cell population in the male gonad. In the prepubertal rat testis, the most conspicuous dying cells are pachytene spermatocytes, which are also the primary target of the apoptosis experimentally induced by the methoxyacetic acid (MAA). Since we have recently reported that Sertoli cells, the somatic component of the seminiferous epithelium, regulate not only germ cell viability and differentiation but also their death, we have further investigated the mechanism involved in such a control.

Sertoli cell modulates MAA-induced apoptosis of germ cells throughout voltage-operated calcium channels.

Spontaneous cell death by apoptosis--occurring during normal spermatogenesis in mammals--is a prominent event, which results in the loss of up to 75% of the potential number of mature spermatozoa. In the rat testis, the most conspicuous dying cells are pachytene spermatocytes, which are also the primary target of the apoptosis experimentally induced by methoxyacetic acid (MAA). In this paper, we have used clusterin expression as an indicator of germ cell apoptosis in rat seminiferous tubules treated with MAA in the presence or in the absence of voltage-operated calcium channels (VOCCs) inhibitors.