Mating and sperm free seminal plasma changes gene expression in the oviductal sperm reservoirs of sows

Sperms being foreign to the female are to be promptly eliminated by the female local immune defense. However, avoiding the local immune defense sperm can be stored for lenthy period in the oviductal sperm reservoir. It is currently unknown whether oviductal sperm reservoirs changes their gene expression to tolerate the spermatozoa after mating or sperm free seminal plasma infusion. Therefore this was tested using Swedish Landrace pigs in this study using cDNA microarray. We used 12 sows seperated into three groups- either oestrus sows were inseminated with 50 ml BTS (control, n=4) or mated with boars (treatment 1, n=4) or inseminated with sperm-free seminal plasma (treatment 2, n=4). The utero-tubal junction was retrieved within 24 h of treatment by operation.