Seminal plasma is a potential source of biomarkers for many disorders of the male reproductive system including male infertility. Knowledge of the peptide and protein components of seminal fluid is accumulating especially with the appearance of high-throughput MS-based techniques. Of special interest in the field of male infertility biomarkers, is the identification and characterization of diff...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Metformin (MET) is a first-line drug for type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM); its effect on new-onset diabetes after transplantation caused by immunosuppressant therapy is unclear. We compared the effects of MET on DM caused by tacrolimus (TAC) or sirolimus (SRL). METHODS DM was induced by injection of TAC (1.5 mg/kg) or SRL (0.3 mg/kg) for 2 weeks in rats, and MET (200 mg/kg) was i...

Variation in the effect of seminal plasma on sperm function and fertility has been hypothesised to be due to differences between males and their seminal plasma composition. The freezing resilience of individual rams (n=17) was investigated to characterise inter-male variation. This was determined by measuring the degree of change in motility induced by cryopreservation (Experiment 1). Experimen...

Recently, the seminal plasma transferrin concentration has been reported to be a possible clinical marker of the Sertoli cell function. In the present study we measured the seminal plasma transferrin concentration in patients of male infertility by the method of radial immunodiffusion. The results obtained were as follows. 1. The seminal plasma transferrin concentration is significantly correla...

BACKGROUND The seminal plasma is an excellent source for noninvasive detection of spermatogenesis. The seminal plasma of normospermic and azoospermic men has been analyzed for detection of spermatogenesis. METHODS Optical spectroscopy (Attenuated Total Reflectance-Infrared spectroscopy (ATR-IR) and Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) has been used to analyze the seminal plasma and...

BACKGROUND The human seminal fluid is a complex body fluid. It is not known how many proteins are expressed in the seminal plasma; however in analog with the blood it is possible up to 10,000 proteins are expressed in the seminal plasma. The human seminal fluid is a rich source of potential biomarkers for male infertility and reproduction disorder. METHODS In this review, the ongoing list of ...

BACKGROUND During the process of fertilization, human spermatozoa are confronted with phagocytic cells of the female reproductive tract. Part of this host mucosal barrier are immature dendritic cells (DCs), which play an important role in the defense of invading microbial pathogens. In the present study, we investigated the potential interaction of spermatozoa with DCs and raised the question o...

BACKGROUND Previously, we documented the presence of ovulation-inducing factor (OIF) in the seminal plasma of llamas and alpacas. The purpose of the study was to define the biochemical characteristics of the molecule(s) in seminal plasma responsible for inducing ovulation. METHODS In Experiment 1, llama seminal plasma was centrifuged using filtration devices with nominal molecular mass cut-of...

I would like to comment on the article by Dr. Saleh and colleagues, which adds new information to the growing body of evidence about the negative effects of smoking on reproductive health (1). In 1998, two consecutive papers were published by our group dealing with the effects of smoking on human sperm viability via the seminal plasma factor and at the ultrastructural level of the sperm tail ax...

Substantial dilution of boar semen during processing decreased the concentration of seminal plasma, perhaps contributing to the decline in sperm quality after cryopreservation and sex-sorting. Results of replacing seminal plasma in investigations from many laboratories have been contradictory. Results and discussion here suggest that whereas membrane status can be influenced by seminal plasma, ...