Seminal Antigens: Their Alteration in the Genital Tract of Female Rabbits and During Partial In Vitro Capacitation with Beta Amylase and Beta Glucuronidase1

Abstract

By use of immunofluorescence with antisera to sperm-specific and sperm-coating antigens, it was observed that rabbit sperm residing in the uterus for 10 h lost sperm-coating antigens. This loss resulted in the unmasking of sperm-specific acrosomal antigenic sites. Sperm recovered from the fallopian tubes of estrual rabbits showed more (P < 0.01) of this alteration than sperm from the uterus. The environment in an estral uterus was more efficient in removing sperm-coating antigens, especially from the region of the postnuclear cap, than that in a pseudopregnant uterus.