MEASUREMENT OF VITRONECTIN CONTENT OF HUMAN SPERMATOZOA AND VITRONECTIN CONCENTRATION WITHIN SEMINAL FLUID

Objective: Vitronectin previously has been extracted from human sperma tozoa and messenger RNA (mRNA) encoding vitronectin localized by rever se transcriptase in situ polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to spermatocy tes of human testis. In the present experiments, we have established r anges for the content of vitronectin in living human spermatozoa and v itronectin concentration within seminal fluid of human ejaculates. Des ign: Seminal fluid was obtained by centrifugation and motile sperm sel ected by swim-up from men with normal and abnormal ejaculates, accordi ng to World Health Organization criteria, for vitronectin determinatio ns. Setting: Academic research environment. Main Outcome Measure(s): S eminal fluid vitronectin concentrations were measured by ELISA and spe rm vitronectin content by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and semiq uantitative Western blots. Result(s): Vitronectin seminal fluid concen tration was 1.35 +/- 1.0 mg/mL (mean +/- SD) for normospermic samples (n = 26) and 0.78 +/- 0.4 mg/mL for azoospermic specimens (n = 6). Vit ronectin sperm content ranged from 1 to 15 ng/10(6) motile cells (n = 20). Both high-and low-molecular-weight material was observed. Sperm c ontent of vitronectin did not vary with sperm morphology. Conclusion(s ): These results suggest that spermatozoa represent a major source of seminal fluid vitronectin, but that a secondary source exists, perhaps through transudation from serum. (C) 1997 by American Society for Rep roductive Medicine.