A new sperm agglutinin factor from marine snail Telescopium telescopium: An evaluation with goat (Capra hircus) cauda epididymal spermatozoa

Lectins the multivalent carbohydrate binding proteins are also employed to ascertain differentiation and characterization of the specific cell surface carbohydrate ligands/ receptors of different cell types including spermatozoa and posses novel biomedical importance. SF50 the sialic acid specific lectin was employed on goat cauda epididymal spermatozoa to investigate its effect(s) on the physiology of sperm cells if any. A protein factor SF50 was obtained from spermatheca/ ovotestis gland of marine snail Telescopium telescopium by precipitation with 50% ammonium sulfate. Different concentrations of SF50 and Bovine serum albumin (BSA) as control were added with washed goat cauda epididymal spermatozoa and observed immediately and after 20 s and 60 s of incubation. SF50 treated sperm cells exhibited head-to-head type agglutination. The degree of agglutination varied (p