The semen used in these studies was collected from healthy dairy bulls by means of an artificial vagina and was kept in a refrigerator until used. All experiments were begun within 2 hours after the semen was collected. Observations were made on the effect of inhibitors on bull sperm in the egg yolk-buffer pabulum previously described (2, 3). Semen and yolk-buffer at pH 6.8 were mixed at the ra...

Progressively motile, washed buffalo spermatozoa (50 x 10(6) cells in 0.5 ml) were in vitro capacitated in HEPES containing Bovine Gamete Medium 3 (BGM3) in presence of heparin (10 microg/ml), and different concentrations of hydrogen peroxide (10 to 100 microM). Spermatozoa (60%) were capacitated in presence of heparin compared to 56% in presence of 25 microM H2O2 (optimally found suitable for ...

Polymorphism. Tag1 restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) in the collagenase (CLG) of sheep. Source and Description of Probe. A 2.05-kb cDNA insert was excised from a pSP64 clone using HindIII and SmaI. The insert contains the complete coding sequence of the human fibroblast collagenase gene, as described by Angel et al. (1987). Method of Detection. Prehybridization and hybridization s...

Variation in the effect of seminal plasma on sperm function and fertility has been hypothesised to be due to differences between males and their seminal plasma composition. The freezing resilience of individual rams (n=17) was investigated to characterise inter-male variation. This was determined by measuring the degree of change in motility induced by cryopreservation (Experiment 1). Experimen...

Binding of mammalian spermatozoa to the zona pellucida of homologous eggs is mediated by specific molecules on their surface membranes. In the present investigation we describe the biogenesis, epididymal processing and cellular distribution of a plasma membrane antigen (2B1) on rat spermatozoa that has a potential role in mediating zona binding. 2B1 is expressed postmeiotically in the testis as...

Background: It is estimated that around 15% of the couple at reproductive age are infertile couples, and approximately the half of infertilities are caused by male factor. Defective spermatogenesis is the result of several different disorders, such as endocrinological disorders, disease, malnutrition, genetic defects and maybe environmental condition. Materials and Methods: In this study 60 IVF...

The feasibility of using frozen-thawed semen in caprine IVF outside the breeding season was investigated. Electroejaculated spermatozoa from a Nubian buck were washed twice and then frozen in skim milk- or in egg yolk-based extenders. Goat oocytes were matured and inseminated by frozen-thawed spermatozoa selected by swim-up. In vitro fertilization was performed in a modified defined medium (mDM...

Background: Reactive oxygen species (ROS) is generated by spermatozoa from human (Aitken and Clarkson, 1987; Alvarez et al., 1987), rat (Vernet et al., 2001), mouse (Fisher and Aitken, 1997), rabbit (Holland et al., 1982) and buffalo (Roy and Atreja, 2008). ROS initiates signaling pathways regulating key processes including capacitation (Aitken et al., 1998;Aitken et al., 1996;deLamirande et al...