A study was conducted to determine the effect of heat stress on semen criteria and testis size in Santa Inês hairy rams, in the State of Ceará, Northeast of Brazil. The scrotum of eight adult rams was insulated for seven days. Animals were evaluated twice before insulation and, after insulation, at 12 different periods until 118 days. Scrotal insulation did not affect semen volume, but pH was i...

Samples of ram, bull and boar semen were subjected to cold shock and then stained using an indirect immunocytochemical method for detecting acrosin. It was found that the shock treatment abolished staining of the acrosomal region in all but a very few cells. This finding was interpreted as a great loss of proacrosin or acrosin from damaged acrosomes. Using a fluorescent label in the system, spe...

Background: Hen egg yolk is a common component of most semen cryopreservation extenders. However, diluents containing the egg yolk may have adverse effects on the quality of the semen. Egg yolk could be solubilized by the addition of sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) in semen extenders. Many studies have shown beneficial effects of antioxidants addition to semen freezing extenders. Antioxidants are...

BACKGROUND Cerium oxide nanoparticles (CeO2 NPs) are able to store and release oxygen, conferring them scavenger activity against oxidative stress. However, their effects in reproductive systems are not yet well understood. The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of exposure of refrigerated ram semen to CeO2 NPs for 96 h on the main structural and kinematic parameters of spermatozoa...

When mammalian spermatozoa are washed free from seminal plasma (and thus from fructose) and incubated as suspensions in Ringer solution they remain motile provided that oxygen is present. An explanation of this behaviour was put forward by Lardy & Phillips (1941a, b), who suggested that in the absence of the seminal sugar [later identified by Mann (1946) as fructose] the spermatozoa of bull and...

The 19S outer arm dynein of trout sperm flagella is a complex of proteins composed of two heavy chains, five intermediate chains and at least six light chains. After dialysis against a low ionic strength buffer, its beta subunit was purified and used to generate a rabbit polyclonal antibody. This polyclonal antibody reacted strongly with the trout beta dynein heavy chain (DHC) but not with the ...

Sperm capacitation is a maturation event that takes place in the female reproductive tract and is essential for fertilization. A family of phospholipid-binding proteins present in bovine seminal plasma (BSP proteins) binds the sperm membrane at ejaculation and promotes bovine sperm capacitation. Homologues of these proteins have also been isolated from boar, ram, goat, bison and stallion semina...

BACKGROUND Mammalian spermatozoa are characterized by a high proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), but reliable data concerning dietary effects on fatty acid (FA) profile in ram's sperm and the persistency of FA in the ration to the FA in sperm has not been reported. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the stability of saturated and unsaturated FAs in ram's sperm desp...