Elsevier

Fertility and Sterility

Volume 77, Issue 1, January 2002, Pages 159-161
Fertility and Sterility

VAMP/synaptobrevin as an acrosomal marker for human sperm

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0015-0282(01)02957-0Get rights and content
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Abstract

Objective: To determine the possible use of the mammalian acrosomal marker vehicle-associated membrane protein (VAMP)/synaptobrevin to detect acrosome abnormalities in human sperm.

Design: Analysis of human sperm after fixation and staining with an anti-VAMP antibody.

Setting: An academic research institution.

Patient(s): Semen samples from consenting patients who were participating in an infertility treatment program.

Intervention(s): Human sperm samples were fixed, permeabilized with detergent, and examined by immunocytochemistry.

Main outcome measure: Immunostaining.

Result(s): Observation of sperm from patients with no obvious sperm morphological defects revealed normal looking acrosomes, as assessed by VAMP immunostaining. However, severe acrosome malformations were detected in other cases. The observations registered varied from the absence of a fully formed organelle in samples of patients with globozoospermia to abnormal VAMP staining in samples from patients with acrosomal defects.

Conclusion: VAMP/synaptobrevin may be a useful marker for the functional assessment of acrosomal status in human sperm.

Keywords

Sperm
acrosome
VAMP/synaptobrevin

Cited by (0)

This work was supported by grants from the NICHD/NIH to G.S., through co-operative agreement [U54 18185], as part of the Specialized Cooperative Centers Program in Reproductive Medicine; and by a post-doctoral fellowship to J.R.-S. (FCT, Portugal).