Highly specialized sperm surface antigens in the Nile tilapia,Oreochromis niloticus, as revealed by conventional antisperm antibody and autoantibody
✍ Scribed by Lou, Y.-H. ;Takahashi, H.
- Book ID
- 102894196
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1991
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 922 KB
- Volume
- 258
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0022-104X
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✦ Synopsis
Abstract
Conventional antibodies and autoantibodies against spermatozoa of the Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus, were used to study sperm surface antigens of the fish. Absorption assays using a variety of tilapia tissues demonstrated that antigens reacting to conventional antitilapia sperm (ATS) antibodies were highly specific to spermatozoa. By immunoblotting analyses of isolated plasma membrane of tilapia spermatozoa, at least 15 kinds of constituent proteins were recognized by ATS antibodies as surface antigens, among which six were identified as autoantigens by autoantibodies purified from male fish immunized with allogeneic spermatozoa. Immunohistochemistry of testis sections revealed that most of the antigens began to emerge on spermatids by the final stage of spermiogenesis. Immunofluorescent analysis of sperm smear, either using ATS antibodies or autoantibodies, showed that the antigens were mainly distributed on the surface of the sperm head and midpiece. The stage at which sperm‐specific antigens came to appear was discussed in relation to the stage for the formation of blood‐testis barrier in the tilapia.