BACKGROUND Human spermatozoa appear to be guided by chemotaxis to the oocyte in the female genital tract. While one of the sources of sperm chemoattractants is the cumulus cells that surround the oocyte, the identity of the chemoattractant secreted from them is unknown. Progesterone, recognized to be secreted from cumulus cells, was demonstrated, at the pM concentration range, to be a chemoattr...

Egg-induced lesions in the upper and the lower female reproductive tract are important complications of the infection with Schistosoma mansoni. The understanding of the pathophysiology and pathology of genital lesions is only rudimentary, simple and reliable diagnostic tools are not at hand, epidemiological data do not exist and how to treat best the women affected, is not known. In view of rec...

The efficacy of treating genital Chlamydia in women using Deteclo 300 mg twice daily for seven and 21 days has been studied. Forty-four patients were treated for seven days and 20 for 21 days. Seven days of treatment was as effective in eliminating Chlamydia trachomatis from the female genital tract as 21 days. The reproducibility of the technique of isolation of C. trachomatis was assessed by ...

Most male mammals produce far more spermatozoa on a daily basis than is strictly necessary for reproduction and females have evolved mechanisms that prevent all but a small minority from reaching the vicinity of their oocytes. One potential explanation for the stringent selection is that females have developed these mechanisms as a way of avoiding polyspermy as well as exercising post-copulator...

Sterile sperm castes are widespread, but their significance remains enigmatic. New experiments on Drosophila pseudoobscura reveal that sterile sperm may promote the survival of fertilising sperm inside the spermicidal female reproductive tract.

In 1993, biologist Margie Profet captured the attention of the popular press with the publication of her radical thesis: menstruation has a function. Traditional theories, she claims, typically view menstruation as a functionless by-product of cyclic flux. The details of Profet’s functional account are similarly radical: she argues that menstruation has been naturally selected to defend the fem...

Male ejaculates are often structurally complex, and this complexity is likely to influence key reproductive interactions between males and females. However, despite its potential evolutionary significance, the molecular underpinnings of ejaculate structural complexity have received little empirical attention. To address this knowledge gap, we sought to understand the biochemical and functional ...

We relate here the primary characteristics of 'Peptoniphilus pacaensis' strain KHD5 (= CSUR P2271), a new member of the Peptoniphilus genus. Strain KHD5 was isolated from a vaginal sample of a 33-year-old woman exhibiting a bacterial vaginosis.