Figure 8

Ultrastructure of the conventional and sexed sperm reservoir and the tubal epithelial cells before and after sperm binding (n = 3 bulls, n = 9 ampullae). (a–b) Both conventional (a) and sexed (b) spermatozoa bind to the oviductal cilia. Detached plasma membranes (PM) are seen in conventional and sex-sorted spermatozoa (arrowhead). In sex-sorted sperm the distal part of the head (asterisk) is often seen near cilia (C). (c) In the bovine ampulla in mid diestrus the tubal epithelium shows high amounts of secretory vesicles (SV), rough endoplasmic reticulum (ER) lined by ribosomes (R), and mitochondria (M) in the ciliated cells (CC), secretory cells (SC) and protruding cells (PC). After formation of the sperm reservoir predominantly dilated endoplasmic reticulum (dER) is seen in the ciliated cells (CC), secretory cells (SC) and protruding cells (PC). (C: cilia, PM: plasma membrane, ER: endoplasmic reticulum, dER: dilated endoplasmic reticulum, M: mitochondrium, N: nucleus, R: ribosome, SV: secretory vesicles). (Scale bars: (a, b):0.5 µm, (c, d):1 µm).