ArticleFrontiers in endocrinology2023
The role of spermatozoa-zona pellucida interaction in selecting fertilization-competent spermatozoa in humans.
Article in Frontiers in endocrinology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- Molecular interplay between sperm and oocyte: a narrative review.Human reproduction update · 2026Review
- Membrane Fusions During Mammalian Fertilization.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- Genetic variation in zona pellucida-3 (ZP3) gene and its association with litter size variation in Kari sheep.Animal biotechnology · 2025Article
- Sperm Cell Membranes of Bulls and Bucks Associated with Sperm Fertility and Freezability.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Review
- Oral exposure to di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate alters the expression of GATA6, OCT4, and CDX2 in blastocysts and decreases the rate of implantation in a mouse model.Toxicological sciences : an official journal of the Society of Toxicology · 2025Article
- Sperm-Derived Dysfunction of Human Embryos: Molecular Mechanisms and Clinical Resolution.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Assisted sperm fusion insemination improves fertilization rates and increases usable embryos for transfer: a clinical sibling-oocyte study.F&S reports · 2025Article
- Automatic identification of human spermatozoa with zona pellucida-binding capability using deep learning.Human reproduction open · 2025Article
- A narrative review of sperm selection technology for assisted reproduction techniques.Translational andrology and urology · 2024Review
- Genetic Diversity and Selection Signal Analysis of Hu Sheep Based on SNP50K BeadChip.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Human fertilization begins when a capacitated spermatozoon binds to the zona pellucida (ZP) surrounding a mature oocyte. Defective spermatozoa-ZP interaction contributes to male infertility and is a leading cause of reduced fertilization rates in assisted reproduction treatments (ARTs). Human ejaculate contains millions of spermatozoa with varying degrees of fertilization potential and genetic quality, of which only thousands of motile spermatozoa can bind to the ZP at the fertilization site. This observation suggests that human ZP selectively interacts with competitively superior spermatozoa characterized by high fertilizing capability and genetic integrity. However, direct evidence for ZP-mediated sperm selection process is lacking. This study aims to demonstrate that spermatozoa-ZP interaction represents a crucial step in selecting fertilization-competent spermatozoa in humans. ZP-bound and unbound spermatozoa were respectively collected by a spermatozoa-ZP coincubation assay. The time-course data demonstrated that ZP interacted with a small proportion of motile spermatozoa. Heat shock 70 kDa protein 2 (HSPA2) and sperm acrosome associated 3 (SPACA 3) are two protein markers associated with the sperm ZP-binding ability. Immunofluorescent staining indicated that the ZP-bound spermatozoa had significantly higher expression levels of HSPA2 and SPACA3 than the unbound spermatozoa. ZP-bound spermatozoa had a significantly higher level of normal morphology, DNA integrity, chromatin integrity, protamination and global methylation when compared to the unbound spermatozoa. The results validated the possibility of applying spermatozoa-ZP interaction to select fertilization-competent spermatozoa in ART. This highly selective interaction might also provide diagnostic information regarding the fertilization potential and genetic qualities of spermatozoa independent of those derived from the standard semen analysis.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.