An antiserum against protamines for immunohistochemical studies of histone to protamine transition during human spermiogenesis.

Specific polyclonal antisera have been obtained against total human protamines isolated from purified sperm nuclei. The specificity of antibodies was assessed in immunodotting and immunoblotting assays. In this preliminary report, these specific antibodies were used as probes for in-situ determination of histone to protamine transition during human spermiogenesis. Protamine-containing sites were detected on sections of human testes by light microscopy using the immunoperoxidase technique. As in other mammals, protamines appear and concentrate in condensed nuclei of elongating spermatids, i.e. during the later steps of human spermiogenesis.