Studies on factors in hamster caudal epididymal plasma and other sources which inhibit sperm dilution damage.
We observed that hamster caudal epididymal (HCE) plasma could inhibit dilution damage in HCE sperm. Here it is shown that in the absence of HCE plasma survival factors (SF), dilution of HCE sperm led to apparently simultaneous lysis and loss of motility. However, in the presence of HCE plasma, lysis did not occur when HCE sperm motility was blocked by palytoxin. Using a newly developed microassay for SF, significant amounts of SF activity were detected in dog and bovine caudal epididymal plasma, hamster testes exudate, HCE sperm cytosol, human seminal plasma, hamster and bovine adrenal extracts, hen's egg, and human serum. The SF activity of HCE plasma could tolerate restricted periods of boiling or pH extremes but was destroyed by trypsin and protease. Unlike human serum, HCE plasma did not significantly alter HCE sperm respiration or ATP content.
D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D002470:Cell Survival; D006224:Cricetinae; D003600:Cytosol / Q000032:analysis; D004285:Dogs; D004822:Epididymis / Q000502:physiology*; D005615:Freezing; D008297:Male; D013081:Sperm Motility; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors
D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate