Abstract

Outer dense fibers (ODF) are structural elements in the mammalian sperm tail which surround the axoneme in the midpiece and principal piece and probably may help to maintain the elastic structures and elastic recoil of the sperm tail. In the present study, we have generated and characterized and describe a series of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against the 30 kDa major protein from boar ODF. For antibody screening an ELISA was developed using a newly developed method to fix the ODF proteins to the solid phase. A total of seven mAbs were selected and characterized by ELISA, Western blot and immunofluorescence. The mAbs recognize the major protein component of boar ODF on preparative Western blot and mark the mid- and principal piece of demembranated flagella. These mAbs also recognize the mid- and principal piece of demembranated human spermatozoa from normozoospermic patients, but not from those with asthenozoospermia. For the first time, we succeeded in obtaining hybridoma cell lines that secrete mAbs of class IgM, which react with the 30 kDa protein of boar ODF.