Following sperm penetration through the egg coat, the sperm plasma membrane fuses with its oocyte PD0332991 in vitro counterpart, the oolemma. At least two plasma membrane proteins essential for sperm – oolemma fusion – IZUMO and CD9 on the male and female gametes, respectively – have been identified recently by classical cell biology approaches and confirmed by gene deletion. Oolemma-associated tetraspanin CD81, closely related to CD9, also appears to have an essential role in fusion. Additional proteins that may have nonessential yet still facilitating

roles in sperm – oolemma adhesion and fusion include oolemma-anchored integrins and oocyte-expressed retroviral envelope proteins, sperm disintegrins, and sperm-borne proteins of epididymal origin such as CRISP1 and CRISP2. This review discusses these components of the gamete fusion mechanism within the framework of gamete structure, membrane

biology, cell signalling and cytoskeletal dynamics, and revisits the topic of antipolyspermy defence at the oolemma level. Harnessing the mechanisms of sperm – egg fusion is of importance to animal biotechnology and to human assisted fertilisation, wherein male patients with reduced sperm fusibility have been identified.”
“Objective-To determine types and frequency of ophthalmic lesions detected in neonatal foals evaluated for nonophthalmic disease at 3 veterinary referral hospitals and to investigate associations AZD6244 supplier between systemic and ophthalmic diseases see more in these foals.

Design-Prospective cross-sectional study.

Animals-70 foals <30 days old.

Procedures-Complete ophthalmic examinations were performed. Signalment, clinical signs,

mentation during ophthalmic examination, results of clinicopathologic tests, and diagnosis of systemic disease were recorded. Descriptive data analysis including a chi(2) test for associations was performed.

Results-Most foals (39/70 [55.7%]) with systemic disease had 1 ophthalmic lesion detected. Of the 39 foals with ophthalmic disease, 24 (61.5%) had potentially vision-threatening lesions. Clinically important abnormalities included conjunctival hyperemia or episclera! injection (30/70 [42.9%]), uveitis (18/70 [25.7%]), ulcerative keratitis (13/70 [18.6%]), nonulcerative keratitis (10/70 [14.3%]), entropion (8/70 [11.4%]), retinal hemorrhage (8/70 [11.4%]), and cataract (6/70 [8.6%]). Foals with sepsis were significantly more likely to have uveitis than were those without sepsis. Foals with sepsis and uyeitis were also significantly less likely to survive to discharge than were foals that had sepsis without uveitis. Acquired ophthalmic disease (detected in 37/70 [52.9%] foals) was significantly more common than congenital ophthalmic disease (detected in 9/70 [12.9%]).

Conclusions and Clinical Relevance-Ophthalmic lesions were detected in 55.7% of neonatal foals with systemic disease. Acquired ophthalmic disease was more commonly detected than congenital ophthalmic disease.