Inhibition of the antibody responses to rat blood transfusion antigens in mice by boar seminal immunosuppressive fraction.

Problem: Immunosuppressive fraction of boar seminal vesicle fluid (ISF) was tested to muffle primary and secondary antibody responses to xenotranfusions. Contemporaneously, heparin non-binding fraction of seminal plasma (H- fraction), presumed to be identical to ISF, was used to support the results.

Method: To study their similarity, ISF and H- fraction were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography and the separated proteins by N-terminal sequencing.

Immunosuppressive effect induced by intraperitoneal and rectal administration of boar seminal immunosuppressive factor.

The immunosuppressive component was isolated from boar seminal vesicle secretion and administered i.p. or rectally to male mice.

Effect of intra-rectal administration of boar seminal immunosuppressive fraction on mouse lymphocytes.

The repeated deposition of an immunosuppressive fraction isolated from boar vesicular gland secretion into the rectum of healthy male and female mice reduced responses of lymphocytes to mitogens in vitro. Rectal deposition of the immunosuppressive component also led to a decrease in the activity of plaque-forming cells. These findings indicate that repeated rectal deposition of semen may compromise some aspects of the immune system and may be an important cofactor in the development of viral or bacterial infections among homosexual men.

Purification and partial characterization of the 17 kDa sperm coating protein from boar seminal plasma.

Sperm coating proteins of 16, 17, and 19 kDa have been purified from boar seminal plasma. The 17 kDa protein has been identified as an antigen recognized by monoclonal antibody ACR.3 and is thus identical to low molecular mass zona pellucida binding protein from boar spermatozoa (Moos et al.

Proteins and glycosaminoglycans in the intercellular matrix of the human cumulus-oophorus and their effect on conversion of proacrosin to acrosin.

Human cumuli-oophori were cultured in vitro in the presence of radioactive protein and polysaccharide precursors. The time course of the cumulus cell secretion was traced by histoautoradiography. Matrix solubilization, and sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and high-performance liquid chromatography showed that proteoglycan (Mr greater than 1,700,000) was the main cumulus cell product that was prevailingly deposited in the cumulus intercellular matrix and partly released into the culture medium.