Guanethidine, a chemical that selectively blocks sympathetic noradrenergic neurons, was used to investigate the role of sympathetic innervation in the fertility of rat epididymal sperm, using both natural mating and in utero insemination protocols. This animal model correlates, at least in part, with spinal cord injury (SCI) in men. Adult male rats were treated daily by i.p. injections, for 21 ...

BACKGROUND Reduction of blood flow is important in the induction of neurogenic intermittent claudication (NIC) in lumbar spinal canal stenosis. PGE1 improves the mean walking distance in patients with NIC type cauda equina compression. PGE1 derivate might be effective in dilating blood vessels and improving blood flow in nerve roots with chronically compressed cauda equina. The aim of this stud...

Several decades ago it was reported that when adult male rats were exposed to a single injection of 50 mg/kg body weight ethane dimethanesulfonate (EDS) and mated with untreated females, average litter size was significantly reduced as early as 2 weeks later. Recently, we demonstrated that EDS exerts multiple effects in the epididymis of adult rats. Some of these effects were independent of red...

The ultrastructure of the principal cells of the mouse epididymis was studied using osmium impregnation techniques which have the advantage that the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) content displays a positive reactivity after glutaraldehyde fixation whereas the Golgi condensing vacuoles are negative. In the proximal part (caput) of the epididymis, the Golgi apparatus formed a large supranuclear area...

Introdução: A Síndrome da Cauda Equina (SCE) é uma condição neurológica relativamente rara, tendo por etiologia mais comum a hérnia discal lombar. Pode manifestar-se clinicamente anestesia “em sela”, dor lombar, ciatalgia, incontinência urinária e/ou intestinal, e disfunção sexual. Metodologia: Revisão integrativa de literatura que incluiu 14 artigos levantados nas bases dados MEDLINE, integrad...

In a previous study, evidence was provided for the presence of a novel plasma-membrane-associated neutral-pH-optimum alpha-L-fucosidase in rat sperm. In the present study, rat sperm alpha-L-fucosidase was characterized during epididymal maturation. The pH 7 activity optimum of alpha-L-fucosidase and its subunit composition (one or two closely spaced immunoreactive protein bands of about 53+/-2 ...

Although many environmental agents are established male germ cell mutagens, few are known to induce mutations in spermatogonial stem cells. Stem cell mutations are of great concern because they result in a permanent increase in the number of mutations carried in sperm. We investigated mutation induction during mouse spermatogenesis following exposure to benzo(a)pyrene (BaP). MutaMouse males wer...

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 We evaluated the relationships between proteins in cauda epididymis fluid (CEF) and fertility scores of dairy bulls. Fertility was expressed as the percentage point deviation of bull non-return rate (PD) from the average fertility of all bulls at an artificial insemination center. Number of services for each bull ranged from 1,07...

In the present study, the fertilizing potential of semen recovered from slaughtered bulls epididymis was evaluated after cryopreservation, by conventional techniques and flow cytometry methods. The cauda epididymal was dissected and sperm were recovered and evaluated for volume, sperm concentration, and membrane and acrosome integrity using a flow cytometer. Sperm fertility potential was tested...