BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to determine the effect of culture medium osmolality, in the range known to occur in the male and female reproductive tracts, on human sperm tyrosine phosphorylation and sperm-zona pellucida (ZP) interaction in vitro. METHODS Motile sperm (2x10(6)), selected by swim-up from semen of normozoospermic men with normal sperm-ZP binding, were incubated with or w...

Several studies have been reported on the occurrence of sperm motility inhibiting factors in the male reproductive fluids of different mammalian species, but these proteins have not been adequately purified and characterized. A novel sperm motility inhibiting factor (MIF-II) has been purified from caprine epididymal plasma (EP) by Hydroxylapatite gel adsorption chromatography, DEAE-Cellulose io...

Research has demonstrated that porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) can be shed into boar semen, raising the possibility that artificial insemination may be an important route by which disease associated with PCV2 is transmitted. The objective of this experiment was to determine the effect of vaccination against PCV2 on ejaculate characteristics and PCV2-specific antibody titers in serum of PCV2-po...

We have shown previously that human sperm bind and enter leukocytes expressing surface HLA class II molecules. In the present study, mutant B lymphoblastoid cells and HLA-DR-transfected murine 3T3 fibroblasts are used to confirm that HLA class II molecules are somatic cell receptors for sperm. Further, for isolated HLA-DR expressed on murine cells, we show that sperm receptor activity requires ...

A novel dodecamer peptide sequence, YLP(12), was identified on human sperm that is involved in oocyte binding. We investigated its immunocontraceptive effects in a murine model. A vaccine was prepared by conjugating the synthetic YLP(12) peptide with the binding subunit of recombinant cholera toxin. Vaccination of female mice by i.m. or intranasal routes without any additional adjuvant induced ...

Fertility is dependent on a complex set of events, involving both male and female components. Normal sperm function involves many steps, including motility, capacitation, acrosome reactivity and, ultimately, fertilization of the oocyte. While male fertility is most often assessed by means of gross semen parameters, infertility may also be caused by abnormal sperm function, and only by performin...

Mesoscale structures (microns dimensions, nL-pL volumes) have been designed and fabricated in silicon for use in various analytical tasks. We studied sperm motility and performed sperm selection in channels (80 microns wide x 20 microns deep), branching structures (40 microns wide x 20 microns deep, eight bifurcations), and channels containing barriers (7 microns feature size). Sperm-cervical m...

Spleen cells from C57BL/6J mice infected for 21 weeks with Schistosoma japonicum did not show an in vitro secondary antibody response upon challenge with sperm whale myoglobin. Mice infected for 13 weeks showed almost no in vivo secondary antibody response to this antigen. Spleen cells from mice infected for 12 to 21 weeks did not adoptively transfer delayed hypersensitivity to this antigen.

The epitope structure of the human sperm antigen reacting with antibodies present in sera of infertile women has been studied using mAb H6-3C4, which produces immobilization of human sperm in the presence of complement. Another antibody, NUH2, which also induces human sperm immobilization, was used to substantiate the presence of a receptor on sperm involved in susceptibility to immobilization....

The objective of this research was to determine the effect of vaccination against porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) on ejaculate characteristics, PCV2-specific antibody titers in serum, viremia, and viral shedding in the semen of PCV2-positive boars. Before vaccination, all boars were confirmed by PCR to be naturally infected with PCV2. The boars were vaccinated with a commercial killed vaccine ...