Male infertility is a complex, multifactorial and polygenic disease that contributes to ~50% cases of infertility. Previous studies have demonstrated that excess weight and obesity factors serve an important role in the development of male infertility. An increasing number of studies have reported that resveratrol may regulate the response of cells to specific stimuli that induce cell injury, a...

Binding of guinea-pig spermatozoa to the zona pellucida of homologous eggs has been reported to involve 'receptors' on the inner acrosomal membrane (Huang et al. 1981). These receptors can be blocked by sulphated polysaccharides such as fucoidan (Huang and Yanagimachi, 1984). The aims of the present investigation were to identify these putative zona receptors using 125I-fucoidan as a probe and ...

Proprotein convertase 4 (PCSK4) is a member of a family of proprotein convertases that convert inactive precursor proteins into their mature and active forms. PCSK4 is expressed by testicular germ cells and localizes to the sperm acrosome, suggesting roles in fertilization. Mice lacking PCSK4 exhibit a profound fertility defect; yet, to date, few substrates for PCSK4 are known. In this study, t...

Boar sperm acrosin is an acrosomal protease with trypsin-like specificity, and it functions in fertilization by assisting sperm passage through the zona pellucida by limited hydrolysis of this extracellular matrix. In addition to a proteolytic active site domain, acrosin binds the zona pellucida at a separate binding domain that is lost during proacrosin autolysis. In this study, we quantitate ...

BACKGROUND Advances in the definition of the function and the mechanism of estrogen action in different tissues have come from human and animal models of estrogen insufficiency. Recently we have demonstrated that aromatase is present and biologically active in human ejaculated sperm, suggesting that autonomous estradiol sperm production may influence sperm functions. In the present study we inv...