Assessing Seminal Fluid Interaction with Female Reproductive Tract Tissues: In Vivo and In Vitro Models for Mouse

After intromission of seminal fluid at mating in mammals, the seminal fluid interacts with the lining of the female reproductive tract and elicits a female immune response. This response is triggered by signals in seminal fluid (carried by both the sperm and seminal plasma components) that bind receptors on female tract epithelial cells, causing a change in their transcriptional program to upregulate expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines. The ensuing leukocyte recruitment and immune activation facilitates conception, embryo development, and progression of pregnancy. In this chapter, we report methods for evaluating effects of seminal fluid and its components (seminal plasma and sperm) on the female reproductive tract immune response in mice.