Successful fertilization requires gametes to complete several stages, beginning with maturation and transport along the male and female reproductive tracts and ending with the interaction between the sperm and the egg. This last step involves sperm-egg adhesion and membrane fusion. ADAMs (disintegrin and metalloprotease domain proteins) are a family of membrane-anchored glycoproteins that are t...

The mammalian epididymis is a highly specialized region of the male reproductive tract that is lined with a continuous layer of epithelial cells that display a remarkable level of regionalized secretory and absorptive activity. The luminal environment created by this combined secretory and absorptive activity is directly responsible for promoting the functional maturation of spermatozoa and the...

Spermatozoa occupy several days in their passage through the cpididymal canal (Mason and Shaver, '52). During this time the spermatozoa acquire increased fertilizing power (Young, '31). These facts suggest that the epididymal cells and their secretory products may play a dual role. First, they may actively participate in the differentiation of the sperm cells ; secondly, they must contribute to...

It is generally known that spermatozoa aquire the capacity for fertilization during passage through the proximal region of the epididymal duct and are then stored in the distal region of the duct (BEDFORD, 1975 ; HAMILTON, 1975). The mouse epididymal duct has been divided into five segments (I-V) by light microscopy ; Segments I, II and III constitute the head of the epididymis, Segment IV the ...

Hexaconazole is a systemic triazole fungicide used in agricultural practices. The aim of the present investigation is to study the toxic effect of Hexaconazole on the epididymal spermatozoa. The adult male rats were exposed to Hexaconazole at the dose of 25 mg/kg body weight, orally daily for 60 days. The control group received corn oil alone as vehicle. Third group of rats were administered wi...

Myotis nigricans is a species of vespertilionid bat, whose males show two periods of total testicular regression within the same annual reproductive cycle in the northwest São Paulo State, Brazil. Studies have demonstrated that its epididymis has an elongation of the caudal portion, which stores spermatozoa during the period of testicular regression in July, but that they had no sperm during th...

We report here that spermatozoa of mice lacking both the sperm nucleus glutathione peroxidase 4 (snGPx4) and the epididymal glutathione peroxidase 5 (GPx5) activities display sperm nucleus structural abnormalities including delayed and defective nuclear compaction, nuclear instability and DNA damage. We show that to counteract the GPx activity losses, the epididymis of the double KO animals mou...

The TYH medium was first reported as a medium for in vitro fertilization (IVF) of mouse eggs with epididymal spermatozoa, by Toyoda, Yokoyama and Hosi, in 1971. It was a modified Krebs-Ringer bicarbonate solution, supplemented with glucose, Na-pyruvate, antibiotics and bovine serum albumin. In TYH medium, almost all eggs are fertilized within 1 h, if the spermatozoa are pre-incubated for 2 h be...

Spermatozoa of the shrew Suncus murinus, a mammal with abdominal testes, exhibit four unusual features: a giant acrosome; a dorsoventral asymmetry of their spermiation; a dorsoventral asymmetry of their head surface character; and also apparent surface maturity as they enter the epididymis. A Sertoli cell-periacrosomal cisternal complex envelops the giant acrosome during spermatid maturation. S...

β-defensin peptides are a large family of antimicrobial peptides. Although they kill microbes in vitro and interact with immune cells, the precise role of these genes in vivo remains uncertain. Despite their inducible presence at mucosal surfaces, their main site of expression is the epididymis. Recent evidence suggests that a major function of these peptides is in sperm maturation. In addition...