Extraction of sp18 family membrane proteins on posterior head of bull sperm and the effect of anti-sp18 IgG on sperm motility and murine in vitro fertilization

• Published in: Animal biotechnology Vol. 9; no. 2; pp. 149 - 153
• Main Authors: Gou, K.M, Shang, L.J, An, X.R, Lin, A.X, Ren, L.M, Chen, Y.F
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 01-01-1998
• Subjects: Acrosome; animal reproduction; Animals; Antigens - immunology; Cattle; Fertilization - immunology; Fluorescent Antibody Technique; Immunoglobulin G - immunology; Male; Membrane Proteins - genetics; Membrane Proteins - immunology; Membrane Proteins - physiology; Mice; Rabbits; Sperm Head - physiology; Sperm Motility
• ISSN: 1049-5398; 1532-2378
• DOI: 10.1080/10495399809525901

Bovine sperm heads were separated via ultrasonic treatment and centrifugation. Anti-bull sperm IgG was produced by immunizing rabbits with acrosome-reacted bull sperm heads. SDS PAGE patterns revealed that the main membrane proteins on acrosome-reacted bull sperm head were sp18 family, including 18, 16, and 14 kD, which represented about 64% of the total membrane proteins in bull sperm. Indirect immunofluorescence shown sp18 antigens primarily distributed in postacrosomal and proximal tail regions. Western blot analysis revealed that the anti-bull sperm IgG reacted with sp18 antigens in acrosome-reacted bull sperm head and bull seminal plasma. Anti-bull sperm IgG also reacted with 14, 16, 18, 42, 57 and 60 kD proteins in fresh bull, mouse and rabbit sperm. Anti-sp18 IgG caused agglutination of bull and rabbit sperm, but had no effect on murine sperm. In murine in vitro fertilization trials, preincubating capacitated sperm with 0.364 mg/ml of anti-sp18 IgG resulted in a decrease in the fertilization rate from 75.6% in the controls to 50.8% in the experimental groups (p < 0.001).