Assessment of morphological and functional changes in the mouse testis and epididymal sperms following busulfan treatment.

Background: Busulfan, a cytotoxic drug, which is currently used as a chemotherapeutic agent, has many side effects on different body organs. In this research, the effects of busulfan on sperm parameters and microstructure of mouse testis were investigated.

Methods: Busulfan was injected intrapretoneally at 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 mg/kg and testes were removed after 4, 6 and 8 weeks, weighed and processed for light microscopic examination.

Development of mouse embryos co-cultured with polarized or non-polarized uterine epithelial cells using sequential culture media.

This study investigated the effects of the in vitro co-culture of mouse embryos with non-polarized or polarized uterine epithelial cells, using sequential culture media, on their development to blastocysts, blastocyst quality (blastocyst diameter and cell number), apoptosis, Bcl-2 and Bax gene expression. There were three treatments, all of which used sequential culture media. The treatments were no co-culture (control), non-polarized or polarized epithelial cell monolayer co-culture in 24-well tissue culture plates.