After mating, many female mammals store a subpopulation of sperm in the lower portion of the oviduct, forming a reservoir. The reservoir lengthens sperm lifespan, regulates sperm capacitation, controls polyspermy, and selects normal sperm. It is believed that sperm bind to glycans on the oviduct epithelium to form the reservoir, but the specific adhesion molecules that retain sperm are unclear. Herein, using a glycan array to test 377 glycans for their ability to bind porcine sperm, we found two glycan motifs in common among all glycans with sperm-binding ability: the Lewis X trisaccharide and biantennary structures containing a mannose core with 6-sialylated lactosamine at one or more termini. Binding to both motifs was specific; isomers of each motif did not bind sperm. Further work focused on sialylated lactosamine. Sialylated lactosamine was found abundantly on the apical side of epithelial cells collected from the oviduct isthmus, among N-linked and O-linked glycans. Sialylated lactosamine bound to the head of sperm, the region that interacts with the oviduct epithelium. After capacitation, sperm lost affinity for sialylated lactosamine. Receptor modification may contribute to release from the reservoir so that sperm can move to the site of fertilization. Sialylated lactosamine was required for sperm to bind oviduct cells. Simbucus nigra agglutinin or an antibody specific to sialylated lactosamine with a preference for Neu5Acalpha2-6Gal rather than Neu5Acalpha2-3Gal reduced sperm binding to oviduct isthmic cells, as did occupying putative receptors on sperm with sialylated biantennary glycans. These results demonstrate that sperm binding to oviduct 6-sialylated biantennary glycans is necessary for normal adhesion to the oviduct.

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effect of antioxidant inclusion and oil quality on broiler performance, meat quality, shelf life, and tissue oxidative status. Ross 308 male broilers were allotted to a randomized complete block design in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement. Factors consisted of antioxidant (ethoxyquin and propyl gallate) inclusion at 2 levels (0 or 135 mg/kg) and oil quality (fresh soybean oil, control diet peroxide value <1 mEq/kg, or oxidized soybean oil, diet peroxide value 7 mEq/kg). Each treatment included 12 pen replicates comprising 24 birds for a total of 1,152 birds on trial allotted to 48 pens. On the final day of the study, 1 bird from each pen was killed by cervical dislocation and used for determination of tissue oxidative status. Another 5 broilers from each pen were processed at a commercial slaughtering facility. Immediately after processing, carcasses were transported to the University of Illinois Meat Science Laboratory (Urbana) for further analysis. With the exception of 2 responses (liver vitamin A and serum vitamin A), no interactions were found between antioxidant inclusion and oil quality. Body weight and weight gain were increased by dietary antioxidant inclusion (P < 0.001) and fresh oil (P < 0.001). Feed intake was increased in broilers fed the antioxidant (P = 0.047) and fresh oil (P = 0.062). Antioxidant inclusion had no effect on G:F (P = 0.18). Antioxidant supplementation had no effect on carcass weight (P = 0.202), dressing percentage (P = 0.906), breast yield (P = 0.708), or breast ultimate pH (P = 0.625) and had minimal effect on breast color. Antioxidant supplementation (P = 0.057) reduced breast thiobarbituric acid reactive substances after 7 d of display. Fresh oil decreased liver thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, whereas antioxidant inclusion increased serum and liver vitamin A and E concentration. The presence of an antioxidant in the feed protects lipids from further oxidizing, therefore increasing broiler performance and improving shelf life when using oxidized oil.

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