| Abstract: | Data from studies examining the effects of vasectomy in a large number of nonhuman primates vasectomized for periods ranging up to 14 years are summarized, and these findings and speculations are used as a framework with which to review the subject of autoimmunity and vasectomy. Attention is directed to autoimmunity to sperm antigens following vasectomy (factors affecting antisperm antibody levels, characteristics of circulating antisperm antibodies, antisperm antibodies in seminal plasma, and cellular immunity following vasectomy), and immunopathology of antisperm autoimmunity (local effects on the male reproductive tract and systemic effects on the male reproductive tract). The 6 hypotheses that have been advanced to explain individual variations in dynamics and types of antisperm antibodies produced following vasectomy are reviewed. 3 tests are commonly used to detect free antisperm antibodies after vasectomy: 1) the spermagglutination test; 2) the sperm immobilization test; and 3) the immunofluorescence test. Spermagglutinating (SA) antibodies, the most common type of antibody produced after vasectomy, occur in approximately 2/3 of vasectomized men and in a majority of vasectomized rhesus monkeys. Sperm-immobilizing (SI) antibodies are also produced in a large percentage (40%) of vasectomized men and rhesus monkeys. About 30% of vasectomized men also have antiprotamine antibodies. |
