Biomaterial Database

Binding of human spermatozoa to lectin-coated agarose microbeads. 1997

L K Gabriel, and D R Franken

Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Tygerberg Hospital, South Africa.

An inability or decreased ability of spermatozoa to bind to the zona pellucida (ZP) may be at the origin of many cases of poorly explained or idiopathic infertility. It would be clinically useful to be able to distinguish this condition from other causes of infertility. A major problem in testing the sperm-ZP binding ability is the paucity of biological ZP. Examination of whether sperm binding to PNA-, UEA-1-, WGA-, Con A-, or PSA-coated agarose microbeads reflected sperm binding to biological ZP and correlated with in vitro fertilization rates showed that only binding to WGA-coated microbeads showed significant positive and negative predictive values when compared to IVF rates in 2 x 2 contingency. Sperm binding to PNA, Con A, and PSA was indiscriminately high, irrespective of IVF rate. Human spermatozoa did not bind to UEA-1-coated agarose microbeads. Furthermore, sperm binding to WGA-coated microbeads correlated with sperm morphology ratings. These results implicate terminal N-acetyl-D-glucosamine and/or sialic acid (specific saccharides for WGA) in sperm-ZP interaction and also suggest that the use of lectin-coated microbeads may represent an initial step in the development of a synthetic sperm binding assay.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008297	Male		Males
D008863	Microspheres	Small uniformly-sized spherical particles, of micrometer dimensions, frequently labeled with radioisotopes or various reagents acting as tags or markers.	Latex Beads,Latex Particles,Latex Spheres,Microbeads,Bead, Latex,Beads, Latex,Latex Bead,Latex Particle,Latex Sphere,Microbead,Microsphere,Particle, Latex,Particles, Latex,Sphere, Latex,Spheres, Latex
D002448	Cell Adhesion	Adherence of cells to surfaces or to other cells.	Adhesion, Cell,Adhesions, Cell,Cell Adhesions
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D012189	Retrospective Studies	Studies used to test etiologic hypotheses in which inferences about an exposure to putative causal factors are derived from data relating to characteristics of persons under study or to events or experiences in their past. The essential feature is that some of the persons under study have the disease or outcome of interest and their characteristics are compared with those of unaffected persons.	Retrospective Study,Studies, Retrospective,Study, Retrospective
D012685	Sepharose		Agarose,Sepharose 4B,Sepharose C1 4B,4B, Sepharose C1,C1 4B, Sepharose
D013094	Spermatozoa	Mature male germ cells derived from SPERMATIDS. As spermatids move toward the lumen of the SEMINIFEROUS TUBULES, they undergo extensive structural changes including the loss of cytoplasm, condensation of CHROMATIN into the SPERM HEAD, formation of the ACROSOME cap, the SPERM MIDPIECE and the SPERM TAIL that provides motility.	Sperm,Spermatozoon,X-Bearing Sperm,X-Chromosome-Bearing Sperm,Y-Bearing Sperm,Y-Chromosome-Bearing Sperm,Sperm, X-Bearing,Sperm, X-Chromosome-Bearing,Sperm, Y-Bearing,Sperm, Y-Chromosome-Bearing,Sperms, X-Bearing,Sperms, X-Chromosome-Bearing,Sperms, Y-Bearing,Sperms, Y-Chromosome-Bearing,X Bearing Sperm,X Chromosome Bearing Sperm,X-Bearing Sperms,X-Chromosome-Bearing Sperms,Y Bearing Sperm,Y Chromosome Bearing Sperm,Y-Bearing Sperms,Y-Chromosome-Bearing Sperms
D037102	Lectins	Proteins that share the common characteristic of binding to carbohydrates. Some ANTIBODIES and carbohydrate-metabolizing proteins (ENZYMES) also bind to carbohydrates, however they are not considered lectins. PLANT LECTINS are carbohydrate-binding proteins that have been primarily identified by their hemagglutinating activity (HEMAGGLUTININS). However, a variety of lectins occur in animal species where they serve diverse array of functions through specific carbohydrate recognition.	Animal Lectin,Animal Lectins,Isolectins,Lectin,Isolectin,Lectin, Animal,Lectins, Animal
D066298	In Vitro Techniques	Methods to study reactions or processes taking place in an artificial environment outside the living organism.	In Vitro Test,In Vitro Testing,In Vitro Tests,In Vitro as Topic,In Vitro,In Vitro Technique,In Vitro Testings,Technique, In Vitro,Techniques, In Vitro,Test, In Vitro,Testing, In Vitro,Testings, In Vitro,Tests, In Vitro,Vitro Testing, In