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Abstract
Serum obtained from an infertile subject possessed antibodies that interacted with a human sperm glycoprotein with an estimated Mr of 17,550 and pI of 5.65 containing 17.7% neutral hexoses and designated as the BS-17 component. Polyclonal antibodies raised against the BS-17 antigen blocked the capacity of human sperm to fertilize zona-free hamster ova in vitro; however, the antibodies did not influence the binding of human sperm to zone-free ova or alter the motility of human sperm. The antibodies inhibited the capacity of mouse sperm to fertilize ova upon in vivo insemination. The BS-17 antigen was detected in human, rat, mouse, rabbit, and hamster sperm by an immunocy-tochemical method, using polyclonal anti-BS-17 antibodies. Intense staining occurred over the surface of the acrosomal region of all mammalian sperm. The results suggest that the production of anti-BS-17 antibodies contribute to infertility by preventing the capacitation of sperm and/or by blocking the ability of capacitated sperm to fertilize the egg.