Motile sperm organelle morphology examination (MSOME) involves the use of differential interference contrast microscopy (also called Nomarski contrast) at high magnification (at least 6300x) to improve the observation of live human spermatozoa. In fact, this technique evidences sperm head vacuoles that are not necessarily seen at lower magnifications - particularly if the vacuoles are small (i....

Testicular protein Tpx-1, also known as CRISP-2, is a cysteine-rich secretory protein specifically expressed in the male reproductive tract. Since the information available on the human protein is limited to the identification and expression of its gene, in this work we have studied the presence and localization of human Tpx-1 (TPX1) in sperm, its fate after capacitation and acrosome reaction (...

Fifteen monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) raised against human sperm cells were evaluated for reactions against human sperm by indirect immunofluorescence, immunocytochemistry, agglutination, complement-dependent immobilization, cervical mucus penetration, and hamster egg penetration assays. The MAbs were analyzed for specificity by immunofluorescent reactions with peripheral blood lymphocytes and s...

Due to rising human infertility, sperm motility has been an important subject. Among the hundreds of millions sperms on journey up oviducts, only a few excellent travelers will reach eggs. This is affected by many factors, some which include quality, density, fluid rheology and chemotaxis. In addition, swimming through different body tracks fluids involves complex flagellar, environment, multi-...

Mammalian oocyte activation is mediated by cytosolic calcium (Ca(2+)) oscillations initiated upon delivery of a putative 'sperm factor' by the fertilizing sperm. Previous studies suggest the identity of this sperm factor as the testis-specific phospholipase C-zeta (PLCζ). Recently, a post-acrosomal sheath WW domain-binding protein (PAWP) has been proposed as an alternative sperm factor candidat...

Approximately one in six married couples find themselves involuntarily infertile. This ratio translates to between two and four million U.S. couples. Although numerous tests are available for diagnosing infertility problems, 5-10 percent of all couples who seek medical treatment are diagnosed with unexplained infertility. Several tests are presently available for diagnosing male infertility; ho...

BACKGROUND We examined the presence and function of tachykinins and the tachykinin-degrading enzymes neprilysin (NEP) and neprilysin-2 (NEP2) in human spermatozoa. METHODS Freshly ejaculated semen was collected from forty-eight normozoospermic human donors. We analyzed the expression of substance P, neurokinin A, neurokinin B, hemokinin-1, NEP and NEP2 in sperm cells by reverse-transcriptase ...