An autoregressive logistic model to predict the reciprocal effects of oviductal fluid components on in vitro spermophagy by neutrophils in cattle

After intercourse/insemination, large numbers of sperm are deposited in the female reproductive tract (FRT), triggering a massive recruitment of neutrophils (PMNs) into the FRT, possibly to eliminate excessive sperm via phagocytosis. Some bovine oviductal fluid components (BOFCs) have been shown to regulate in vitro sperm phagocytosis (spermophagy) by PMNs. The modeling approach-based logistic regression (LR) and autoregressive logistic regression (ALR) can be used to predict the behavior of complex biological systems. We, first, compared the LR and ALR models using in vitro data to find which of them provides a better prediction of in vitro spermophagy in bovine. Then, the best model was used to identify and classify the reciprocal effects of BOFCs in regulating spermophagy. The ALR model was calibrated using an iterative procedure with a dynamical search direction. The superoxide production data were used to illustrate the accuracy in validating logit model-based ALR and LR. The ALR model was more accurate than the LR model. Based on in vitro data, the ALR predicted that the regulation of spermophagy by PMNs in bovine oviduct is more sensitive to alpha-1 acid glycoprotein (AGP), PGE2, bovine serum albumin (BSA), and to the combination of AGP or BSA with other BOFCs.