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Ultrastructural and Immunofluorescent Methods for the Study of the XY Body as a Biomarker

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Functional Analysis of DNA and Chromatin

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1094))

Abstract

Structural and immunohistochemical methods have been extremely useful for the characterization of the XY body (the structure formed by the XY pair during meiotic prophase) in Man and in other mammals. These methods are widely used at the present time for the detection of abnormalities leading to human infertility. The basic ultrastructural methods are spreading of pachytene spermatocytes, thin-sectioning techniques with or without 3-D reconstructions, and the monitoring of all specimens with semi-thin sections. Immunofluorescent techniques also use spreading of meiotic cells for the analysis of the XY body, and they can be combined with the fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) technique, in the so-called immuno-FISH. Epitope retrieval techniques are also used.

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Acknowledgments

We thank M.Sc. I.M. Rahn for the useful comments on the manuscript and for experimental help. Thanks to Mrs C. Deparci for the able technical help. We acknowledge Prof. R. Ponzio for the histopathological diagnosis of the biopsies, and R. Coco, Ph.D.; G. Rey Valzacchi, M.D.; and S. Brugo Olmedo, M.D., for the clinical and surgical procedures. We also thank the generous gift of antibodies from P. J. Moens, B. Spyropoulus (York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada), and M. Alsheimer (University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany). This work was supported by UBACYT 20020100100030 (AJS) and FONCYT PICT 2010-2718 (RBS).

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Sciurano, R.B., Solari, A.J. (2014). Ultrastructural and Immunofluorescent Methods for the Study of the XY Body as a Biomarker. In: Stockert, J., Espada, J., Blázquez-Castro, A. (eds) Functional Analysis of DNA and Chromatin. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1094. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-706-8_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-706-8_11

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-62703-705-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-62703-706-8

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