Receptor Mediated Agglutination of Human Spermatozoa by Spermagglutinating Factor Isolated From Staphylococcus aureus

Bacteriospermia - A formidable player in male subfertility

Bacterial colonization of male reproductive tissues, cells, and fluids, and the subsequent impact of bacteria on the sperm architecture, activity, and fertilizing potential, has recently gained increased attention from the medical and scientific community. Current evidence strongly emphasizes the fact that the presence of bacteria in semen may have dire consequences on the resulting male fertility. Nevertheless, the molecular basis underlying bacteriospermia-associated suboptimal semen quality is sophisticated, multifactorial, and still needs further understanding. Bacterial adhesion and subsequent sperm agglutination and immobilization represent the most direct pathway of sperm-bacterial interactions. Furthermore, the release of bacterial toxins and leukocytic infiltration, associated with a massive outburst of reactive oxygen species, have been repeatedly associated with sperm dysfunction in bacteria-infested semen. This review serves as a summary of the present knowledge on bacteriospermia-associated male subfertility. Furthermore, we strived to outline the currently available methods for assessing bacterial profiles in semen and to outline the most promising strategies for the prevention and/or management of bacteriospermia in practice.

Comparing the Effect of Different Antibiotics in Frozen-Thawed Ram Sperm: Is It Possible to Avoid Their Addition?

It is crucial to perform a deep study about the most extensively used antibiotics in sperm extenders. Most of the protocols and concentrations used in ram are direct extrapolations from other species. It is important to establish species-specific antibiotic treatments to optimize their use and if it is possible to reduce the quantity. Previews studies have assessed some aspects of sperm quality in vitro, but this study aimed to go further and assess the effect of three different antibiotic treatments, which are the most extensively used, not only in sperm quality or assessing the inhibitory effect on bacterial growth but also assessing these important parameters of productivity such as fertility, prolificacy, fecundity, and sex-ratio during a freeze-thaw process. Gentamicyn (G) treatment showed the worst results, not only concerning sperm quality but also in the reproductive trials exhibiting a toxical effect at the experiment concentration, and being the most powerful inhibiting bacterial growth. For its part, Lincomicyn-spectinomycin (LS) showed similar results inhibiting bacterial growth but it did not show a detrimental effect either in sperm quality or in reproductive parameters. Penicillin-streptomycin (PS) showed good results in the sperm quality and in the reproductive in vivo trials, but it showed a very poor effect inhibiting bacterial growth probably due to some kind of antibiotic resistance. According to our results, there is not a significant positive relationship between the higher bacterial inhibitory activity of LS and PS samples, and the sperm quality respect Control samples (without antibiotics). In the case of G, which exhibited the most effective as antibacterial, we observed a toxic effect on sperm quality that could be translated on productivity parameters. Our results suggest that the bacterial contamination control in frozen-thawed semen may be possible without the use of antibiotics, although the effects of longer periods of cooling storage and different temperatures of storage need to be further investigated for animal semen. At this point, a reflection about a drastic reduction in the use of antibiotic treatments in sperm cryopreservation is mandatory, since freezing conditions could keep sperm doses contamination within the levels recommended by regulatory health agencies.

Vaginal Administration of Contraceptives

While contraceptive drugs have enabled many people to decide when they want to have a baby, more than 100 million unintended pregnancies each year in the world may indicate the contraceptive requirement of many people has not been well addressed yet. The vagina is a well-established and practical route for the delivery of various pharmacological molecules, including contraceptives. This review aims to present an overview of different contraceptive methods focusing on the vaginal route of delivery for contraceptives, including current developments, discussing the potentials and limitations of the modern methods, designs, and how well each method performs for delivering the contraceptives and preventing pregnancy.

Purification of cryopreserved camel spermatozoa following protease-based semen liquefaction by lectin-functionalized DNA-defrag magnetic nanoparticles

Although incorporating proteases into sperm medium is considered the most effective procedure to eliminate camel semen viscosity, it drastically affects viability, morpho-functional properties and, hence, fertilization potential of spermatozoa. The present work aimed at evaluating adequacy of employing magnetic nanoparticles-based sperm purification technique for eluting impaired and apoptotic camel spermatozoa from cryopreserved semen doses following protease-based semen liquefaction. Thirty cryopreserved semen doses (50 x 10⁶ sperm/straw) representing the following liquefaction treatments: control (untreated), 0.1 mg/ml papain or 5 U/ml bromelain were used (n = 10 straws per treatment). Immediately after thawing (38°C for 40 s), sperm concentration of each straw within treatment was readjusted to 15 x 10⁶ sperm/mL by dilution in PBS (37°C). Sperm physical and cytological properties were then assessed (non-purified semen). Thereafter, each specimen was subjected to lectin-functionalized DNA-defrag magnetic nanoparticles sperm purification, and the same sperm traits were re-evaluated after undergoing purification (purified semen). Sperm DNA fragmentation level within each group, prior to and after magnetic nano-purification, was also determined by fluorescent imaging. The results showed a dramatic improvement (p < .05) in post-thaw motility (%), viability (%), normal sperm (%), intact acrosome (%) and HOST-reacted (%) spermatozoa in protease-liquefied semen following sperm magnetic nano-purification. Additionally, the highest (p < .05) DNA fragmentation level was recorded in all cryopreserved semen groups prior to purification, whereas the lowest (p < .05) was observed in the protease-treated specimens after magnetic nano-purification. These results indicate that protease-based semen liquefaction prior to cryopreservation in conjunction with magnetic nano-purification post-thawing holds potential for reducing the proportion of damaged and dead spermatozoa, hence improving camel sperm fertilization competence.

Receptor from Streptococcus pyogenes as a potential antidote against sperm immobilization factor-induced sperm impairment and infertility

The present study was undertaken to demonstrate the existence of mimicry between spermatozoa and bacteria. For this, the shared antigenic determinants between mouse spermatozoa and Streptococcus pyogenes against a common ligand, sperm immobilization factor (SIF), were isolated. The mimicry was established on the basis of their ability to ameliorate the SIF-mediated compromised sperm parameters in vitro viz. motility, viability, morphology and Mg²⁺-ATPase activity of spermatozoa. Further, both the receptors i.e. SIF-binding receptor from mouse spermatozoa (MS-SBR) and SIF-binding receptor from S. pyogenes (S-SBR) were able to block the binding of FITC-labelled SIF to spermatozoa and bacteria. The in vivo studies also showed that MS-SBR (10 μg)/S-SBR (25 μg) could alleviate SIF-induced infertility in female BALB/c mice, further providing evidence for molecular similarities between bacteria and spermatozoa.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa: A risk factor for fertility in male mice

The present study was designed to evaluate the effect of P. aeruginosa on reproductive potential of male mice via a series of in vitro and in vivo experiments. In vitro studies involved sperm parameters, Mg²⁺ATPase activity and acrosome status. In vivo study employed male mice which in the right vas deferens received 20 μl of either PBS (Group I) or 10⁴ cfu of P. aeruginosa (Group II). The animals were sacrificed on day 3, 7 and 14 and various parameters viz. body weight, TSI (%), bacterial load, spermiogram {i.e. sperm count, motility (%), viability (%) and morphology}, lipid peroxidation and tissue histopathology were evaluated. The results revealed that cell free supernatant of P. aeruginosa resulted in reduced motility, viability, Mg²⁺dependent ATPase activity and premature acrosomal loss of mouse spermatozoa in vitro. In vivo study showed that in comparison to group I, group II revealed significant alterations in all the parameters on all the days of sacrifice. Further, when reproductive organs of right and left side of mice in group II were compared, the right side demonstrated more devastating effects in terms of altered TSI (%) of testis and cauda epididymis, higher bacterial counts, azoospermia, increased malondialdehyde levels and severe inflammation in tissue histopathology in comparison to left side where bacteria disseminated in reduced numbers, thereby, resulting in insignificant changes in TSI (%), spermiogram, malondialdehyde levels and tissue histology. This study demonstrates that the colonization of P. aeruginosa in male genital tract could be a risk factor for fertility.

Carcinogenic Activities and Sperm Abnormalities of Methicillin Resistance Staphylococcus aureus and Inhibition of Their Virulence Potentials by Ayamycin

This investigation aimed to study the in vivo harmful effects of the subcutaneous injection of different methicillin resistance Staphylococcus aureus extracts (MRSA2, MRSA4, MRSA10, MRSA69, MRSA70, MRSA76, and MRSA78). Such strains represented the highest minimum inhibition concentration toward methicillin with various multidrug-resistant patterns. The obtained results revealed that rats injected with the MRSA4 extract died immediately after the last dose indicating the high cytotoxicity of MRSA4 strain (100% mortality). While the mortalities in other groups injected by the other MRSA extracts ranged from 50 to 75%. In comparison with the normal animal group, all MRSA extracts induced a hepatotoxic effect which was indicated from the significant (p < 0.01) increases in the activities of the serum alanine aminotransferase (ALAT) and aspartate aminotransferase (ASAT) enzymes. Moreover, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) combined with a partial nephrotoxicity that was monitored from the significant elevation of serum urea concentration. While serum creatinine levels did not affect. Similarly, a significant elevation was recorded in serum levels of tumor biomarkers (alpha fetoprotein; AFP, carcinoembryonic antigen; CEA, and lactate dehydrogenase; LDH) reflecting their carcinogenic potential. On the other hand, the percentage of micronuclei (MN) in polychromatic erythrocytes from bone marrow cells was statistically significant in all groups as compared to the control group. The percentage of sperm abnormalities was statistically significant compared to the control. Different types of head abnormalities and coiled tail were recorded. Consequently, the current study focused on fighting MRSA virulence factors by the new compound ayamycin, which proved to be potent anti-virulence factor against all MRSA strains under study by significant decreasing of their streptokinase activities, hemolysin synthesis, biofilm formation, and their cell surface hydrophobicity.

Effect of α-Amylase, Papain, and Spermfluid treatments on viscosity and semen parameters of dromedary camel ejaculates

Ejaculates from five clinically healthy dromedary camels (Camelus dromedarius) were used to evaluate the effects of different enzymatic treatments (Amylase, Papain, Spermfluid) on liquefaction and seminal parameters. After collection, ejaculates were divided into 5 aliquots: (1) kept undiluted (control); or diluted 1:1 with: (2) Tris-Citrate-Fructose (TCF), (3) TCF containing Amylase, (4) TCF containing Papain or (5) Spermfluid containing Bromelain. At 120 min after dilution, each aliquot was evaluated, at 20-min intervals, for viscosity, motility, viability and agglutination. Only the aliquots diluted with TCF containing Papain underwent complete liquefaction. Sperm motility decreased significantly during the observation times, except for the samples diluted with Spermfluid (P=0.005). Diluted samples showed different levels of agglutination, with the lowest being observed in the control and the highest in the Papain-treated samples. The viscosity of dromedary camel ejaculates could be effectively reduced by using the proteolytic enzyme Papain.