Interaction between stallion spermatozoa and oviductal epithelial cells in vitro

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Abstract
Summary: Oviducts were collected from oestrous, dioestrous and anoestrous mares at the abattoir, and the epithelial cells were incubated in tissue culture medium. Stage of the cycle did not appear to affect significantly the quality of the culture, the ability of sperm cells to attach to the oviduct or prolong the motility of bound spermatozoa. More fresh spermatozoa attached to oviductal tissue than did capacitated, acrosome‐reacted and frozen‐damaged spermatozoa, suggesting that sperm membrane integrity is one of the factors necessary for sperm attachment to the oviductal epithelial cells. Spermatozoa from subfertile stallions had a significantly lower attachment rate to oviductal tissue compared with those of a stallion with normal fertility.