Assessment of in vitro sperm characteristics in relation to fertility in dairy bulls.

The performance of frozen-thawed spermatozoa from 10 Holstein bulls in a range of in vitro diagnostic tests and the relationship with adjusted in vivo fertility data was determined. The tests included an assessment of motility (subjective and computer-assisted), morphology, concentration, viability, acrosomal and chromatin integrity conducted immediately post-thaw and after swim-up, in conjunction with membrane status (CTC staining) and migration in an artificial cervical mucus. Adjusted in vivo fertility correlated with subjectively assessed post-thaw motility (r=0.

Effect of seminal plasma fractions from entire and vasectomized rams on the motility characteristics, membrane status, and in vitro fertility of ram spermatozoa.

Whole seminal plasma from ram semen collected before and after vasectomy was separated into 2 fractions, supernatant and pellet of vesicles, and their protein profiles characterized by one-dimensional (1D) gel electrophoresis. The effects of autologous whole seminal plasma and these fractions on motility characteristics (assessed subjectively and by computer-assisted sperm analysis), membrane status (assessed by chlortetracycline staining patterns), and in vitro fertility (assessed by fertilization success and timing of fertilization events) of washed frozen-thawed ram spermatozoa were studied. Regardless of vasectomy, whole seminal plasma and supernatant displayed similar protein patterns.

Flow cytometric evaluation of sperm parameters in relation to fertility potential.

Most laboratory methods used to evaluate semen quality have not correlated highly with fertilizing capacity. The discovery of a variety of fluorochromes and compounds conjugated to fluorescent probes has enabled a more widespread analysis of sperm attributes, and in conjunction with the flow cytometer, permit the evaluation of a large number of spermatozoa. A number of characteristics of sperm integrity, viability and function can be assessed by flow cytometry.

Preservation and evaluation of semen for artificial insemination.

Many years of research have been devoted to improving the fertility of preserved semen of small ruminants. There have been few significant advances in preservation in recent times, but considerable knowledge has been gained on the effect of preservation on the structure and function of spermatozoa. It has become evident that preservation greatly affects many sperm attributes, such as motility, respiratory activity, membrane status and DNA quality.

Periostin secreted by epithelial ovarian carcinoma is a ligand for alpha(V)beta(3) and alpha(V)beta(5) integrins and promotes cell motility.

Periostin (PN) is a secreted protein that shares a structural homology to the axon guidance protein fasciclin I in insects. Previously, we reported that PN expression is up-regulated in epithelial ovarian tumors. We further examined the role of PN in ovarian cancer.