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Antibodies of the ABO System and the Metabolism of Human Spermatozoa: Metabolic Changes induced by Cooling and Freezing

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Abstract

ANAEROBIC glycolysis of washed human spermatozoa is inhibited by incubation with ABO isoantibodies when semen donors are of A or B secretor phenotype1. If this differential is related to the fertilizing capacity of affected cells2–3, a bias would be expected in the transmission of the A and B genes in the population. On this basis and on the basis of other data on fertility in the ABO system4–10, a mechanism which could account for the stability of the ABO polymorphism in terms of natural selection against gametes and intrauterine zygotes has been proposed11.

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  1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor, Michigan

    D. R. ACKERMAN

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  1. D. R. ACKERMAN
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ACKERMAN, D. Antibodies of the ABO System and the Metabolism of Human Spermatozoa: Metabolic Changes induced by Cooling and Freezing. Nature 219, 1159–1160 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1038/2191159a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/2191159a0

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