The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 09, 1998
Filed:
Feb. 13, 1996
Roy H Hammerstedt, Boalsburg, PA (US);
Guy F Barbato, State College, PA (US);
Palmer G Cramer, State College, PA (US);
The Penn State Research Foundation, University Park, PA (US);
Abstract
A method for testing the potential fertility of spermatozoa in a sample by contacting an aliquot of the sperm sample onto a protein extracted from native vitelline membranes removed from chicken or turkey eggs to enable quantification of the number of sperm which bind to the protein. Typically, the vitelline membrane protein is coated onto a solid substrate and the protein extract is first prepared by dissecting vitelline membranes (lamina perivitelline plus lamina extravitellina) from either a group of chicken eggs or a group of turkey eggs, rinsing the membranes free of albumin and yolk, and subdividing the membranes into small particles. The resulting protein is heat solubilized, purified with centrifugation and concentrated to yield the protein extract in solution. The extracted protein then is used as a protein substrate for spermatozoa binding, with sequential contacting of the protein extract with the spermatozoa and measuring the amount of sperm-egg binding that takes place. Intact egg membranes may alternatively be used to bind sperm. Correlation between sperm-egg binding and fertility of the spermatozoa in the sample is direct and linear.