Relationship between semen characteristics, a‐glucosidase and the capacity of spermatozoa to bind to the human zona pellucida

Abstract

Unfertilized oocytes from an in-vitro fertilization programme were stored in different saline solutions and then utilized in a zona binding assay (ZBA). The four saline solutions tested were identical with regard to the capacity of the zona to bind spermatozoa provided by healthy donors. Spermatozoa from 150 infertile patients were tested in the ZBA. The number of spermatozoa bound to the zona correlated positively with sperm concentration, the percentage sperm motility and the percentage of morphologically normal spermatozoa. The population was then divided into two groups according to the level of alpha-glucosidase activity, an epididymal marker. The average number of spermatozoa bound to the zona was diminished in the group with low alpha-glucosidase activity, even when considering strictly equivalent classes of sperm concentration, motility and morphology, respectively.

Semen quality in men with chronic kidney disease and its correlation with chronic kidney disease stages

“…With increased CKD stage, there was a significant increase in LH level and a pattern of hypergonadotrophic hypogonadism, which indicates that metabolites secondary to increased CKD stage affect testis more than the hypothalamic or pituitary function. A low level of glucosidase in semen has been associated with hampered sperm maturation in the epididymis (Haidl et al, 1993), and a high level of glucosidase has been correlated with improved binding capacity of the spermatozoa to the human zona pellucida (Ben Ali et al, 1994). Previous studies have shown that haemodialysis does not improve the hypothalamic-pituitary-testicular axis (Prem et al, 1996) but that renal transplantation could reverse the uraemic damage to testicular function (Holdsworth et al, 1978), suggesting that clearance of metabolites is insufficient on Table 4 Comparison of the levels of sex hormones in serum in participants in stage chronic kidney disease (CKD) 1-5.…”

Characterization of β‐N‐acetylglucosaminidase from human epididymis

“…Galactosyltransferase mediates sperm-zona binding in the mouse through the recognition of terminal N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) residues on the zona. Epididymal a.-glucosidase has been characterized as an epididymal marker (Guerin et al, 1990) and this activity in human seminal plasma has been recently related to sperm-zona pellucida binding capacity (Ali et al, 1994).…”

Seasonal Changes of Neutral α‐Glucosidase Activity in Human Semen

“…From these, the neutral α‐glucosidase (NAG) is reported to originate almost exclusively from the epididymis, while the acid isoenzyme is secreted by the prostate (Paquin et al, 1984; Yeung et al, 1990; WHO, 1999). On the one hand, there are reports that NAG is possibly involved in sperm‐zona pellucida interaction (Ben Ali et al, 1994) or are correlated with human sperm motility (Viljoen et al, 1990). On the other hand, the success after intrauterine insemination (Spiessens et al, 1998) and seminal visco‐elasticity (Elzanaty et al, 2004), the actual function of this enzyme in the ejaculate and its importance for sperm function is still unknown.…”