Genetic effects on sperm design in the zebra finch

Sperm design and function are important determinants of male reproductive success and are expected to be under strong selection. The way that spermatozoa phenotypes evolve is poorly understood, because there have been few studies of the quantitative genetics of sperm. Here we show, in the zebra finch Taeniopygia guttata, an extraordinary degree of inter-male variation in sperm design that is independent of sperm swimming velocity. A quantitative genetics study using data from over 900 zebra finches in a complex breeding experiment showed that sperm head, mid-piece and flagellum length are heritable, that negative genetic correlations exist between sperm traits, and that significant indirect (maternal) genetic effects exist. Selection on the zebra finch sperm phenotype may be low because sperm competition is infrequent in this species, and this, in combination with negative genetic correlations and maternal genetic effects, may account for the variation in sperm phenotype between males. These results have important implications for the evolution of sperm in other taxa.     

交通性污染物致小鼠突变性的研究

以清洁级ICR小白鼠为实验动物,研究温州市区交通污染物对小鼠的致突变性。选择温州鹿城区望江路防空洞为处理现场,采用小鼠骨髓嗜多染红细胞(PCE)的微核试验以及小鼠精子畸形试验等方法。结果显示小鼠PCE的微核率、精子畸形率均为防空洞的>望江路的>对照组;而精子密度、精子活力以及睾丸重量则为防空洞的<望江路的<对照组。结论:交通性污染物对小鼠体细胞及生殖细胞均有明显致突变作用。     

Sperm competition between Drosophila males involves both displacement and incapacitation.

Females in almost all animal groups copulate with multiple males. This behaviour allows different males to compete for fertilization and gives females the opportunity to mediate this competition. In many animals and most insects, the second male to copulate with a female typically sires most of her offspring. In Drosophila melanogaster, this second-male sperm precedence has long been studied but, as in most species, its mechanism has remained unknown. Here we show, using labelled sperm in doubly mated females, that males can both physically displace and incapacitate stored sperm from earlier-mating males. Displacement occurs only if the second male transfers sperm to the female, and in only one of her three sperm-storage organs. Incapacitation can be caused by either fertile or spermless second males, but requires extended intervals between matings. Sperm from different males are not 'stratified' in the storage organs but mix freely. Many animal species may have multiple mechanisms of sperm competition like those observed here, and revealing these mechanisms is necessary to understand the genetic and evolutionary basis of second-male sperm precedence in animals.     

茶油遗传毒性的评价

目的:评价茶油的急性毒性和遗传毒性作用.方法:小鼠急性毒性试验、Ames试验,小鼠骨髓嗜多染红细胞微核试验、小鼠精子畸形试验.结果:受试茶油雌、雄小鼠经口LD50均大于20 mL/kgBW,属无毒物质;Ames试验、微核试验和精子畸形试验结果均为阴性.结论:在本次实验条件下,受试茶油为无毒物质,未显示有遗传毒性作用.     

石油化工污水对小鼠性细胞及体细胞遗传毒性研究

应用小鼠骨髓细胞姐妹染色单体交换(SCE)、染色体畸变及精子畸形试验。对石油化工污水进行遗传毒性检测。结果表明:(1)石油化工污水J、蓄存库水N及自来水S作用下,SCE频率与对照组比较差别不显著(P>0.05)。(2)S作用7、14和28天的小鼠染色体畸变率与对照组无显著性差别。J、N作用7、14天对染色体畸变率有一定影响,但其遗传效应不够显著(P>0.05)。当J、N作用28天时,则畸变率明显高于对照组 差异非常显著(P<0.001)。记明J、N引起的遗传效应与作用时间呈正相关。(3)S、J及N作用28天成年小鼠,其精子畸形率明显高于对照组(P<0.01～0.001)。揭示S、J、N对小鼠精子均显示较强的遗传毒性,且性细胞比体细胞更为敏感。     

Exceptional sperm cooperation in the wood mouse

Spermatozoa from a single male will compete for fertilization of ova with spermatozoa from another male when present in the female reproductive tract at the same time. Close genetic relatedness predisposes individuals towards altruism, and as haploid germ cells of an ejaculate will have genotypic similarity of 50%, it is predicted that spermatozoa may display cooperation and altruism to gain an advantage when inter-male sperm competition is intense. We report here the probable altruistic behaviour of spermatozoa in an eutherian mammal. Spermatozoa of the common wood mouse, Apodemus sylvaticus, displayed a unique morphological transformation resulting in cooperation in distinctive aggregations or 'trains' of hundreds or thousands of cells, which significantly increased sperm progressive motility. Eventual dispersal of sperm trains was associated with most of the spermatozoa undergoing a premature acrosome reaction. Cells undergoing an acrosome reaction in aggregations remote from the egg are altruistic in that they help sperm transport to the egg but compromise their own fertilizing ability.     

Outbred embryos rescue inbred half-siblings in mixed-paternity broods of live-bearing females

Females commonly mate with more than one male, and polyandry has been shown to increase reproductive success in many species. Insemination by multiple males shifts the arena for sexual selection from the external environment to the female reproductive tract, where sperm competition or female choice of sperm could bias fertilization against sperm from genetically inferior or genetically incompatible males. Evidence that polyandry can be a strategy for avoiding incompatibility comes from studies showing that inbreeding cost is reduced in some egg-laying species by postcopulatory mechanisms that favour fertilization by sperm from unrelated males. In viviparous (live-bearing) species, inbreeding not only reduces offspring genetic quality but might also disrupt feto-maternal interactions that are crucial for normal embryonic development. Here we show that polyandry in viviparous pseudoscorpions reduces inbreeding cost not through paternity-biasing mechanisms favouring outbred offspring, but rather because outbred embryos exert a rescuing effect on inbred half-siblings in mixed-paternity broods. The benefits of polyandry may thus be more complex for live-bearing females than for females that lay eggs.     

冬虫夏草人工菌丝对卷烟烟雾诱发遗传损伤的保护作用

以微核试验和精子畸形试验为指标,评价冬虫夏草人工菌丝对卷烟烟雾诱发小鼠遗传物质损伤的保护作用。结果表明,卷烟烟雾处理1,2及4周的各组,均显示潜在的遗传毒性。冬虫夏草具有明显的保护作用,两周的抑制率可达55%。两个烟雾处理组间,精子畸形百分率无显著性差异(P>0.05)。提示虫草人工菌丝对烟雾诱发精子畸形的保护作用不够明显。     

技术原理、发展历程及应用——“人造精子”技术的几点思考

 人造精子能携带单倍体基因组遗传信息,与卵细胞融合并发育成半克隆个体。从技术原理、主要发展历程及应用等方面对这一前沿性技术进行了阐述。     

Sperm death and dumping in Drosophila

Mating with more than one male is the norm for females of many species. In addition to generating competition between the ejaculates of different males, multiple mating may allow females to bias sperm use. In Drosophila melanogaster, the last male to inseminate a female sires approximately 80% of subsequent progeny. Both sperm displacement, where resident sperm are removed from storage by the incoming ejaculate of the copulating male, and sperm incapacitation, where incoming seminal fluids supposedly interfere with resident sperm, have been implicated in this pattern of sperm use. But the idea of incapacitation is problematic because there are no known mechanisms by which an individual could damage rival sperm and not their own. Females also influence the process of sperm use, but exactly how is unclear. Here we show that seminal fluids do not kill rival sperm and that any 'incapacitation' is probably due to sperm ageing during sperm storage. We also show that females release stored sperm from the reproductive tract (sperm dumping) after copulation with a second male and that this requires neither incoming sperm nor seminal fluids. Instead, males may cause stored sperm to be dumped or females may differentially eject sperm from the previous mating.     

姜黄灵芝中药保健食品毒理学研究

通过小鼠急性经口毒性试验、遗传毒性试验（Ames试验、小鼠骨髓细胞微核试验、小鼠精子畸形试验）和大鼠30 d喂养试验,对以姜黄、灵芝为主要原料制成的中药保健食品进行毒理学研究.结果表明：样品对小鼠的最大耐受剂量（MTD）大于30 000 mg/kg BW,急性经口毒性属无毒级;3项遗传毒性试验结果均为阴性;30 d喂养试验中,各剂量组大鼠生长良好,血常规指标、血液生化指标、组织学检查等均未见与样品有关的异常改变.在试验剂量下,姜黄灵芝中药保健食品是安全的.     

精子核DNA和赖氨酸定量测定及有关分析

用显微分光光度计测定了人及大鼠附睾精子核ＤＮＡ和赖氨酸含量，发现不育者精子核ＤＮＡ含量高于正常者，附睾头部精子核赖氨酸含量为１左右，而尾部精子核赖氨酸含量接近于零。提示精子核蛋白异常可能是某些男性不育的原因之一。     

精子介导法生产转基因动物研究进展

精子介导基因转移是利用动物精子具有自发结合和内化转运外源DNA能力的特点,并使其在受精时导入卵每细胞,获得转基因动物。该方法具有操作简单、高效和适用等特点,但影响精子转染外源基因效率的因素很多,其中包括外源DNA、精子及转染方法等。     

基于卡尔曼滤波多目标追踪的家用精子活力检测算法研究与验证

针对传统精液分析方法存在的主观性差异、操作繁琐和不适合便携式家用检测等问题,研究并验证了一种基于卡尔曼滤波多目标追踪技术的精子活力检测系统算法. 首先,通过叠加平均法,获取静态精子数量,根据三帧差法获取运动精子质心位置;然后,使用卡尔曼多目标追踪方法绘制运动目标轨迹,再根据筛选条件获取运动精子数量;最后,综合静态与运动精子数量评价精子活力. 通过对实际采集的7组样本图像进行分析,研究结果表明：该系统所检测精子的活力值与人工检测的活力值相差较小,基本满足了家用精子活力检测的需求.     

A sperm ion channel required for sperm motility and male fertility

Calcium and cyclic nucleotides have crucial roles in mammalian fertilization, but the molecules comprising the Ca2+-permeation pathway in sperm motility are poorly understood. Here we describe a putative sperm cation channel, CatSper, whose amino-acid sequence most closely resembles a single, six-transmembrane-spanning repeat of the voltage-dependent Ca2+-channel four-repeat structure. CatSper is located specifically in the principal piece of the sperm tail. Targeted disruption of the gene results in male sterility in otherwise normal mice. Sperm motility is decreased markedly in CatSper-/- mice, and CatSper-/- sperm are unable to fertilize intact eggs. In addition, the cyclic-AMP-induced Ca2+ influx is abolished in the sperm of mutant mice. CatSper is thus vital to cAMP-mediated Ca2+ influx in sperm, sperm motility and fertilization. CatSper represents an excellent target for non-hormonal contraceptives for both men and women.     

一种复合营养素制剂的毒理学研究

通过小鼠急性经口毒性试验、遗传毒性试验（Ames试验、小鼠骨髓细胞微核试验、小鼠精子畸形试验）和大鼠30 d喂养试验,对以番茄红素油树脂、葡萄籽提取物为主要原料制成的复合营养素制剂进行毒理学研究.结果表明,样品对小鼠的最大耐受剂量（MTD）大于20 000 mg/kg BW,急性经口毒性属无毒级;3项遗传毒性试验结果均为阴性;30 d喂养试验中,各剂量组大鼠生长良好,血液指标、组织学检查等均未见与样品有关的异常改变.在试验剂量下,该复合营养素制剂是安全的.     

Fully effective contraception in male and female guinea pigs immunized with the sperm protein PH-20

Immunization of male and female animals with extracts of whole sperm cells is known to cause infertility. Also, men and women who spontaneously produce antisperm antibodies are infertile but otherwise healthy. Although the critical sperm antigens are unknown, these observations have led to the proposal that sperm proteins might be useful in the development of a contraceptive vaccine. The guinea pig sperm surface protein PH-20 is essential in sperm adhesion to the extracellular coat (zona pellucida) of the egg, a necessary initial step in fertilization. Here, we report that 100% effective contraception was obtained in male and female guinea pigs immunized with PH-20. Antisera from immunized females had high titres, specifically recognized PH-20 in sperm extracts, and blocked sperm adhesion to the egg zona pellucida in vitro. The contraceptive effect was long-lasting and reversible: immunized females, mated at intervals of six to fifteen months after immunization, progressively regained fertility.     

人输卵管液和输卵管上皮细胞培养液诱发精子的顶体反应

目的：探讨人输卵管液和上皮细胞培养液对人精子顶体反应的诱发作用。方法：用Ｈａｍ′ｓＦ１０作对照组，输卵管液和上皮细胞培养液为实验组，分别与生育力组（ｎ＝２０）和不育组（ｎ＝２０）的精子进行共孵育，用精子顶体三色染色法对顶体状态进行评价。结果：共孵育３ｈ时与Ｈａｍ′ｓＦ１０对照组相比较，两种输卵管液均可显著提高生育力组和不育组的精子顶反应率（Ｐ〈０．０５），但这两种输卵管液处理的生育力组与不育组之间