The objective of this study was to develop a protocol for ram epididymal sperm preservation that could be applied to wild ruminants for collection and preservation of spermatozoa from dead or hunted animals. Ram testicles collected from abattoirs were used to study the effect of two transportation temperatures viz. ambient temperature (AT) and refrigeration temperature (RT) on the cauda epididy...

Background: Motile sperm is essential for successful embryo production. The aim of the present study was to compare the in vitro embryo development following isolation of Ram epididymal sperm isolation by swim up (SP) or Histoprep® continuous gradient (HP). Materials and Methods: Ram testes-epididymis were provided from the local slaughterhouse and transported to the lab. Sperms were recovered ...

Mammalian sperm plasma membranes, in contrast to those of mammalian somatic cells, exhibit a significant fraction of lipid that does not diffuse laterally in the plane of the membrane. This nondiffusing fraction results from lipid-lipid interactions. Similar nondiffusing fractions are found in mixed-lipid model systems that contain coexistent gel and fluid domains. These results suggest that th...

In a recent Research Article by Sutovsky et al., the authors interpret their results to mean that in the normal animal the epididymis ‘...provides a mechanism for sperm quality control...’ and that ‘ubiquitinated (i.e. defective) sperm are subsequently phagocytosed by the epididymal epithelial cells’ (Sutovsky et al., 2001). This was based on observations that abnormal sperm were ubiquitin-labe...

It is thought that differences in conception rate between feline epididymal sperm and ejaculate sperm occur because, unlike ejaculated sperm, caudal epididymal sperm have not been sensitized with seminal plasma (SP). In this study, we investigated whether collection of feline epididymal sperm with SP influences sperm qualities after freezing-thawing. Sperm were sensitized with SP for 10 min at ...

background: testis tissue xenografting and the resultant sperm in a xenograft may provide a unique approach to rescue the genetic material of males that die prematurely and is a model for the study of human spermatogenesis and can represent an alternative approach for fertility preservation in cancer patients. this study was aimed to evaluate the xenogenic dog sperm in formation of male pronucl...

It is often questioned whether sperm parameters, including whether retrieved or ejaculated, have any effect on intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) results. Do severe spermatogenic defects affect embryo quality or pregnancy rate? Further, does it matter in azoospermic patients whether the sperm source is testicular or epididymal? Our studies show there is no significant difference in results...

It is generally accepted that spermatozoa become functionally mature during epididymal transit. The objective of this study was to determine whether the cellular location of equine PH-20 is modified during epididymal transit and, if so, the mechanism for such modification. Sperm were isolated from caput and cauda epididymal regions from stallions undergoing castration (n = 7) and used as whole ...

BACKGROUND There are still concerns about the safety of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) due to its brief clinical record and lack of animal testing. Testicular and epididymal sperm are now used routinely for ICSI in patients with obstructive azoospermia. The use of such immature sperm compounds fears, since little is known of their mitochondrial and nuclear DNA quality. METHODS A modi...