Dynamics of Mouse and Human Gametogenesis : From microscopic analyses using immunohistochemical techniques to live cell imaging

"During spermatogenesis and oogenesis, germ cells go through a long and complex journey, at the end of which they will become mature gametes. Defects that may occur during this process can lead to infertility or genetic abnormalities in the offspring. Two main genomic events need to be achieved during spermatogenesis in mammals. First, haploid cells need to be generated through meiosis, and secondly, the genome needs to be repackaged to fit the aerodynamic sperm head, and to protect the genome during its journey towards the egg.

To understand basic aspects of chromosome behaviour during these processes and to apply this knowledge in order to better understand causes of male infertility in man, this thesis has focused on development of new tools to be able to study aspects of chromosome pairing, meiotic division and postmeiotic chromatin reorganization in living mouse spermatogenic cells, as well as on development of better methods to asses which defects occur most frequently in relation to meiotic checkpoint activation in fixed material from human testis biopsies."