Journal des méthodes de diagnostic médical
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Re-Evaluation of Significance of Anti-Sperm Antibodies in Clinical Immune Infertility-Antigenicity of Human Sperm Diminishes during DNA Fragmentation

Satoru Kaneko, Kiyoshi Takamatsu

The clinical significance of Anti-Sperm Antibodies (ASAs) was re-evaluated by comparing motile sperm without DNA fragmentation (Live Sperm: LS) and immotile sperm with end-stage DNA fragmentation (Denatured Sperm: DS). Immunoglobin G was partially purified from the sera of women of infertile couples, and the location of antigenic sites on LS and DS were observed via Indirect Immunofluorescence Staining (IIFS). LS and DS corresponded to sperm that had not yet and those that had already undergone apoptosis, respectively. IIFS suggested that ASAs were produced frequently for the acrosome cap, the equatorial segment, a point-like organelle at the junction of the head/midpiece, the midpiece, the junction of the midpiece/principal piece of the tail, the principal piece of the tail, and the terminal piece of the tail. DS degraded the binding capacity towards all observed ASAs.