The moment of the fertilization of an egg by a spermatozoon-the point of "sperm success"-is a key milestone in the biology of sexually reproducing species and is a fundamental requirement for offspring production. Fertilization also represents the culmination of a suite of sexually selected processes in both sexes and is commonly used as a landmark to measure reproductive success. Sperm success is heavily dependent upon interactions with other key aspects of male and female biology, with the immune system among the most important. The immune system is vital to maintaining health in both sexes; however, immune reactions can also have antagonistic effects on sperm success. The effects of immunity on sperm success are diverse, and may include trade-offs in the male between investment in the production or protection of sperm, as well as more direct, hostile, immune responses to sperm within the female, and potentially the male, reproductive tract. Here, we review current understanding of where the biology of immunity and sperm meet, and identify the gaps in our knowledge.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/bs.ctdb.2019.04.002 | DOI Listing |
BMC Genomics
December 2024
Department of Medicine and Animal Surgery, Veterinary Science, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain.
Background: Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are essential for cell-to-cell communication because they transport functionally active molecules, including proteins, RNA, and lipids, from secretory cells to nearby or distant target cells. Seminal plasma contains a large number of EVs (sEVs) that are phenotypically heterogeneous. The aim of the present study was to identify the RNA species contained in two subsets of porcine sEVs of different sizes, namely small sEVs (S-sEVs) and large sEVs (L-sEVs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Xenobiot
December 2024
Department of Biology & CESAM, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal.
The growing use of products containing rare earth elements (REEs) may lead to higher environmental emissions of these elements, which can potentially enter aquatic systems. Praseodymium (Pr) and europium (Eu) are widely used REEs with various applications. However, their ecotoxicological impacts remain largely unexplored, with poorly understood risks to wildlife.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFZygote
December 2024
Tissue Engineering Department, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
This study explores the efficacy of a novel microfluidic device in isolating rheotactic sperm and assesses their advantages compared with other motile sperm. Two microfluidic devices were used in this study: the microfluidic device we designed to separate sperm based on rheotaxis and a simple passive microfluidic device. We compared the results with the density gradient centrifugation technique.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCell Mol Life Sci
December 2024
Université Paris-Saclay, CEA, UMR Stabilité Génétique Cellules Souches Et Radiations, iRCM/IBFJ, Laboratoire Des Cellules Souches Germinales, 92265, Fontenay-Aux-Roses, France.
About one in six couples experience fertility problems, and male infertility accounts for about half of these cases. Spermatogenesis originates from a small pool of spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs), which are of interest for the treatment of infertility but remain poorly characterised in humans. Using multiparametric spectral flow cytometric analysis with a 16-colours (16-C) panel of cell markers, we identify novel markers of SSCs and provide insights into unravelling and resolving the heterogeneity of the human spermatogonial cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSLAS Technol
December 2024
Department of Reproductive medicine, Heilongjiang Provincial Hospital, Harbin, 150000, Heilongjiang Province, China. Electronic address:
The vaginal microbiota plays an important role in reproductive health, especially in the process of artificial insemination. The imbalance of microbiota may affect pregnancy outcomes. Therefore, this study aims to explore the composition of vaginal microbiota and its impact on artificial insemination pregnancy outcomes, combined with microscopic images and PCR fluorescence methods, in order to provide scientific basis for improving the pregnancy outcomes of husband sperm artificial insemination.
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