Tehran University Medical Journal

Background: Hyaluronan has an important role on the permeability and motility of sperm and the interaction of gametes and these can play a considerable role on the fertility rate. Therefore, in this study, we assessed the effect of different doses of hyaluronan on the morphology, motility, vitality and fertility rate of mice.

Methods: We used 40 mice (6-8 week) in this study which twenty of them were male and the rest were female. The sperm of each male mouse were divided into four groups. The group 1 (control): They were maintained in RPMI media without any hyaluronan supplementation for 2 hour. Hyaluronan with the doses of 750, 1000 and 1250 µg/ml were added into RPMI media in groups 2, 3 and 4, respectively. After 2 hour. incubation, the numbers of sperms were assessed, using haemocytometer. Also, their morphology with papanicolaeu staining and their vitality with Eosin B dye were assessed. As well as sperms motility measured under inverted microscope by observation and fertility rate evaluated after routine IVF by counting two-cell stage embryos.

Results: Our results demonstrated that, the dose of 750 µ g/ml has the greatest effect on the motility, vitality and fertility rate of sperms. The effect of dose of 1000 µ g/ml also was positive on them. On the other hand, none of these doses had any effect on sperm morphology.

Conclusion: Hyaluronan may have an influence on motility, vitality and fertility rate of sperms and the dose of 750µ g/ml had a significant effect on these factors.

Background: Anopheles superpictus is one of the main malaria vectors in Iran. The mosquitoes of this species are found throughout the Iranian plateau up to 2000 meters above sea level in the Alborz Mountains, south of the Zagros Mountains, and in the plains near the Caspian Sea and Persian Gulf. It has been reported that different geographical populations of An. superpictus play different roles in malaria transmission. Based on the presence or absence of a black spot/band on the apical segment of the female maxillary palpi, two morphological forms have been reported in this species. This work has been conducted to study other morphological features as well as the genetic structure of these two forms of An. superpictus in Iran.

Methods: The different morphological characteristics of 35 different populations were observed and recorded. An 887 bp portion of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) was amplified and assayed by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) using 18 enzymes and PCR-direct sequencing techniques.

Results: Among the morphological characteristics studied, there are significant differences between the two forms with regard to the length of the palp light band (p<0.01), wing length (p<0.5), and the distance from the branching point of the II/IV veins to the tip of the wing (p<0.05). Results also revealed that these two forms are sympatric in most localities of Iran. RFLP analysis and sequences of about 710 bp of the gene showed that there was great variation between and/or within the populations, but these variations were not associated with the morphological forms.

Conclusion: This is the first comprehensive study on the morphological and molecular characteristics of An. superpictus in the literature. To determine the role of these morphological forms or genetic haplotypes in malaria transmission, further molecular, cytological, morphological, and epidemiological studies are necessary.