The mouse is an established and popular animal model for studying reproductive biology. Epididymal mouse sperm, which lack exposure to secretions of male accessory glands and do not precisely represent ejaculated sperm for the study of sperm functions, have been almost exclusively used in studies. We compared ejaculated and epididymal sperm in an in vitro fertilization setting to examine whethe...

A recent paper in BMC Developmental Biology describes the development of the annulus of the mouse sperm cell, but much remains to be learnt about sperm cells despite their importance in human fertility.

In order to fertilize the oocyte, sperm must undergo a series of biochemical changes in the female reproductive tract, known as capacitation. Once capacitated, spermatozoon can bind to the zona pellucida of the egg and undergo the acrosome reaction (AR), a process that enables its penetration and fertilization of the oocyte. Important processes that characterize sperm capacitation are actin pol...

Spermatozoa emerging from the testis undergo a maturation process in the epididymis during which they change morphologically, biochemically and physiologically to gain motility and the ability to fertilize ova. We examined mouse epididymal sperm with immunostaining and transmission electron microscopy (EM) and identified a previously unknown structure on the apical hook. The structure has a coi...

During mammalian fertilization, sperm adhere to the extracellular coat of the egg, or zona pellucida, in a species-specific manner. In mouse, evidence suggests that sperm recognize and bind to specific oligosaccharide ligands within the zona pellucida glycoprotein, ZP3, via beta1,4-galactosyltransferase I (GalT I), a lectin-like receptor on the sperm surface. Although in vitro experiments using...

H-Y (male) antigen was visually located on mouse sperm by electron microscopy, by use of the indirect hybrid antibody method and tobacco mosaic virus as the visual marker. Labeling was achieved by centrifugation of the sperm through a discontinuous gradient consisting of alternating layers of immune reagents and wash solutions. Treated sperm were examined topographically by preparation of plati...

background: saccharin is an artificial non-caloric sweetener that used to sweeten products such as drinks, candies, medicines, and toothpaste, but our bodies cannot metabolize it. sodium saccharin is considered as an important factor in tumor promotion in male rats but not in humans. objective: the objective of this study was to investigate the effect of saccharin consumption on sperm parameter...

BACKGROUND Sperm proteins are important for the sperm cell function in fertilization. Some of them are involved in the binding of sperm to the egg. We characterized the acrosomal sperm protein detected by a monoclonal antibody (MoAb) (Hs-8) that was prepared in our laboratory by immunization of BALB/c mice with human ejaculated sperms and we tested the possible role of this protein in the bindi...