In their journey through the oviduct some subpopulations of sperm are preserved in a reservoir, while others are negatively selected. Sperm binding glycoprotein (SBG) is a pig oviductal epithelial cell glycoprotein that produces, under capacitating conditions, acrosome alteration, p97 tyrosine-phosphorylation and reduction of the motility of sperm. In this paper, we show that SBG is accessible ...

The ability of the bovine oviduct to maintain the motility and fertilizing capacity of bovine sperm was investigated by incubating frozen-thawed sperm with endosalpingeal epithelial cells cultured on either tissue culture plastic (nonpolarizing) or Matrigel-coated Millicell (polarizing) substrata. Sperm were also incubated in medium alone or with cultured bovine tracheal epithelial cells. Motil...

amniotic epithelial cells (aecs) possess unique characteristics, which make them a suitable source for cell-based therapeutic strategies. aecs have stem cell properties with low-immunogenicity (due to expressing hla-g molecule and absence of mhc class i and ii antigens) and no ethical problems, as well as availability in sufficient numbers, which can be obtained from a placenta. we have recentl...

This study describes the distribution of vimentin, desmin, smooth muscle actin (SMA) and laminin in the oviduct of the immature and mature Japanese quail. The cytoskeletal proteins vimentin, desmin and SMA have been shown to be involved in cellular support, differentiation, migration and contractility. Laminin is a major component of basement membranes. Luminal epithelia in the infundibular and...

Regarding cloned animals, interesting questions have been raised as to whether cloning restores cellular senescence undergone by their donor cells and how long cloned animals will be able to live. Focusing our attention on differences in telomere lengths depending on the tissue, we had produced 14 cloned cattle by using nuclei of donor cells derived from muscle, oviduct, mammary, and ear skin. ...

Effect of co-culture of buffalo preantral follicles with different somatic cells, i.e. cumulus cells, granulosa cells, Ovarian Mesenchymal Cells (OMC) and Oviductal Epithelial Cells (OEC) was studied. Large preantral follicles were isolated by microdissecting the trypsin (1%) digested ovarian cortical slices. Cumulus cells were isolated by repeated pipetting of oocytes, granulosa cells were iso...

Human epididymal tissue was recovered from 11 patients undergoing orchidectomy without anti-androgen treatment. Everted epithelial fragments from the caput and corpus epididymis of six patients were successfully cultured in a modified RPMI 1640 medium supplemented with HEPES and androgens for up to 110 days (mean 56 +/- 28) in 5% CO(2) in air at 37 degrees C. Epithelial cells from human oviduct...