This summary has been extracted from the application. A copy of the student’s Abstract/Thesis has not been received.
Previous research has shown that epididymal sperm is easily destroyed by the immune response in the ewe, but regular ejaculated semen- sperm with seminal plasma- is protected from this response. This research project aims to examine which proteins in seminal plasma are responsible for modulating this interaction, and test the effects of cryopreservation on these proteins. If these proteins can be supplemented into cryopreseved semen, fertilisation may be more succesful from a simpler cervical AI rather than laparoscopic AI. We will use a novel neutrophil-sperm interaction assay that we have pioneered in out laboratory to investigate the efficacy of proteins such as BSPs and EDIL3 to modulate this sperm-immune interaction that takes place in the female and regulates in part sperm transit.