ASSESSMENT OF CIRCULATING AGGLUTINATING ANTISPERM ANTIBODIES IN BUFFALO COWS WITH UNEXPLAINED INFERTILITY AND AN ATTEMPT TO IDENTIFY BUFFALO SPERM ISOANTIGENS

The presence of circulating agglutinating anti-sperm antibodies as cau se for unexplained infertility of artificially inseminated buffalo cow s was assessed. An attempt to identify buffalo sperm isoantigens was a lso made. The following methods were applied for that purpose: the tra v agglutination test (TAT), SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, an d immunoblotting. The results obtained showed that three of 90 sera fr om buffalo cows with unexplained infertility were positive in TAT (3.3 %) and their titers were low. A total of 27 spermatozoal polypeptides reacted positively with the IgG-isoantibodies of one of the sperm aggl utinating sera in immunoblotting. Of the control sera 12 also revealed individual variations in the number of positive fractions on the blot s. On the basis of comparing the blot with the positive sperm agglutin ating serum to the blots of the positive controls, two buffalo sperm i soantigens were identified, with the respective molecular weights of 4 0 kDa and 120 kDa. In conclusion, circulating agglutinating anti-sperm antibodies are very rarely detected in buffalo cows with unexplained infertility after several artificial inseminations.