IN-VITRO INTERACTION BETWEEN OVIDUCT EPITHELIA AND EQUINE SPERM

Coculture of stallion sperm with monolayers of equine oviductal epithe lia cells (OEC) was evaluated. Monolayers were obtained from frozen-th awed OEC. Live sperm attached to the OEC in vitro, whereas sperm kille d by heat treatment or glutaraldehyde fixation did not. Sperm attached to OEC showed flagellar motion for 4 d in vitro, during which time th ey gradually became released. Scanning electronmicrographs showed an i ntimate association between the sperm and OEC. Incubation of sperm for 4 h with either control, heparinized or OEC-conditioned medium (Tyrod e's albumin lactate phosphate) resulted in more uncapacitated sperm, a s determined by chlortetracycline staining patterns. The OEC-condition ed medium caused similar capacitation-like changes to those seen with heparin. Sperm viability as determined by Hoechst 33258 staining was n ot significantly affected by media type.