Shared Antigenic Determinants Between Spermatozoa and Bacteria: An Experimental Study

Abstract

Deepali Thaper and Vijay Prabha

Sperm immobilization factor (SIF), the secretory protein of Staphylococcus aureus, is known to cause complete immobilization, death and morphological alterations in mouse spermatozoa in vitro. However, the present study aims to explore a newer dimension of SIF i.e., to bind to motile and non-motile bacteria and its ability to induce immobilization of motile bacteria in vitro. The results showed that 800µg of SIF caused complete immobilization of motile bacteria, however, death and morphological alterations could not be observed even with 1000µg of SIF. Furthermore, this SIF-mediated bacterial immobilization was reversed when each of the SIF-binding receptor from mouse spermatozoa and bacteria (Escherichia coli and Streptococcus pyogenes) was incubated with bacteria, thereby, providing an experimental evidence of similarity between the antigenic determinants present on spermatozoa and bacteria against a common ligand, SIF

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