Effect of sperm binding glycoprotein on the sperm physiology

J. M. TEIJEIRO; M. CABADA; P. MARINI

Rosario

Congreso; XLII Reunión anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Bioquímica y Biología Molecular; 2006

SAIB

Millions of spermatozoa are deposited in the female genital tract at ejaculation and only few thousand reach the oviduct and bind the oviductal epithelium. The oviductal reservoir formed in this way may modulate sperm functions. In pig, we have identified and characterized a glycoprotein from oviductal epithelial cells, able to bind to spermatozoa, SBG (sperm binding glycoprotein). SBG may be involved in the binding of sperm to the oviductal epithelium. The aim of this work was to study the influence of SBG on the physiology of sperm. The physiological status of sperm was assessed through Wells-Awa (W-A) staining. The acrosomal reaction (AR) was evaluated with W-A directly and the capacitation was estimated by progesterone induction followed by W-A staining. Sperm suspensions were incubated in capacitating and non-capacitating media, with different concentrations of SBG. The percentage of sperm that underwent AR at different time intervals was estimated. We observed that SBG increased the rate of AR sperm in capacitating medium. Such effect was not present in non-capacitating conditions. The ability of SBG to promote AR could be related to a selection effect, deleting those sperm that reach the oviduct in an inappropriate physiologic condition.