Ultrastructural and immunofluorescent methods for the study of the XY body as a biomarker

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.