scholarly journals CHANGES IN THE SPERMATOZOON DURING FERTILIZATION IN HYDROIDES HEXAGONUS (ANNELIDA)

1961 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur L. Colwin ◽  
Laura Hunter Colwin
Keyword(s):  
Plasma Membrane ◽  
Cross Section ◽  
Direct Contact ◽  
Plasma Membranes ◽  
Sperm Head ◽  
Vitelline Membrane ◽  
Main Body ◽  
Large Vesicle ◽  
Sperm Plasma Membrane ◽  
The Difference

This, the last of a series of three papers, deals with the final events which lead to the incorporation of the spermatozoon with the egg. The material used consisted of moderately polyspermic eggs of Hydroides hexagonus, osmium-fixed at various times up to five minutes after insemination. The first direct contact of sperm head with egg proper is by means of the acrosomal tubules. These deeply indent the egg plasma membrane, and consequently at the apex of the sperm head the surfaces of the two gametes become interdigitated. But at first the sperm and egg plasma membranes maintain their identity and a cross-section through the region of interdigitation shows these two membranes as a number of sets of two closely concentric rings. The egg plasma membrane rises to form a cone which starts to project into the hole which the spermatozoon earlier had produced in the vitelline membrane by means of lysis. But the cone does not literally engulf the sperm head. Instead, where they come into contact, sperm plasma membrane and egg plasma membrane fuse to form one continuous membranous sheet. At this juncture the two gametes have in effect become mutually incorporated and have formed a single fertilized cell with one continuous bounding membrane. At this time, at least, the membrane is a mosaic of mostly egg plasma membrane and a patch of sperm plasma membrane. The evidence indicates that the fusion of the two membranes results from vesiculation of the sperm and egg plasma membranes in the region at which they come to adjoin. Once this fusion of membranes is accomplished, the egg cytoplasm intrudes between the now common membrane and the internal sperm structures, such as the nucleus, and even extends into the flagellum; finally these sperm structures come to lie in the main body of the egg. The vesiculation suggested above appears possibly to resemble pinocytosis, with the difference that the vesicles are formed from the plasma membranes of two cells. At no time, however, is the sperm as a whole engulfed and brought to the interior of the egg within a large vesicle.

scholarly journals CHANGES IN THE SPERMATOZOON DURING FERTILIZATION IN HYDROIDES HEXAGONUS (ANNELIDA)

1961 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Hunter Colwin ◽  
Arthur L. Colwin
Keyword(s):  
Plasma Membrane ◽  
Outer Zone ◽  
Sperm Head ◽  
Intermediate Zone ◽  
Vitelline Membrane ◽  
Acrosomal Vesicle ◽  
Acrosomal Membrane ◽  
Sperm Plasma Membrane ◽  
Morphological Identity

In the previous paper the structure of the acrosomal region of the spermatozoon was described. The present paper describes the changes which this region undergoes during passage through the vitelline membrane. The material used consisted of moderately polyspermic eggs of Hydroides hexagonus, osmium-fixed usually 9 seconds after insemination. There are essentially four major changes in the acrosome during passage of the sperm head through the vitelline membrane. First, the acrosome breaks open apically by a kind of dehiscence which results in the formation of a well defined orifice. Around the lips of the orifice the edges of the plasma and acrosomal membranes are then found to be fused to form a continuous membranous sheet. Second, the walls of the acrosomal vesicle are completely everted, and this appears to be the means by which the apex of the sperm head is moved through the vitelline membrane. The lip of the orifice comes to lie deeper and deeper within the vitelline membrane. At the same time the lip itself is made up of constantly changing material as first the material of the outer zone and then that of the intermediate zone everts. One is reminded of the lip of an amphibian blastopore, which during gastrulation maintains its morphological identity as a lip but is nevertheless made up of constantly changing cells, with constantly changing outline and even constantly changing position. Third, the large acrosomal granule rapidly disappears. This disappearance is closely correlated with a corresponding disappearance of a part of the principal material of the vitelline membrane from before it, and the suggestion is made that the acrosomal granule is the source of the lysin which dissolves this part of the vitelline membrane. Fourth, in the inner zone the fifteen or so short tubular invaginations of the acrosomal membrane, present in the normal unreacted spermatozoon, lengthen considerably to become a tuft of acrosomal tubules. These tubules are the first structures of the advancing sperm head to touch the plasma membrane of the egg. It is notable that the surface of the acrosomal tubules which once faced into the closed acrosomal cavity becomes the first part of the sperm plasma membrane to meet the plasma membrane of the egg. The acrosomal tubules of Hydroides, which arise simply by lengthening of already existing shorter tubules, are considered to represent the acrosome filaments of other species.

Effect of sperm immobilisation and demembranation on the oocyte activation rate in the mouse

Zygote ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 187-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Kasai ◽  
K. Hoshi ◽  
R. Yanagimachi
Keyword(s):  
Plasma Membrane ◽  
Plasma Membranes ◽  
Human Sperm ◽  
Sperm Head ◽  
The State ◽  
Human Spermatozoa ◽  
Oocyte Activation ◽  
Activation Rate ◽  
Sperm Plasma Membrane ◽  
Triton X

To analyse the effect of the state of the sperm plasma membrane on oocyte activation rate following intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), three types of human and mouse spermatozoa (intact, immobilised and Triton X-100 treated) were individually injected into mouse oocytes. At 30, 60 and 120 min after injection, maternal chromosomes and sperm nuclei within oocytes were examined. Following human sperm injection, the fastest and the most efficient oocyte activation and sperm head decondensation occurred when the spermatozoa were treated with Triton X-100. Intact spermatozoa were the least effective in activating oocytes. Thus, the rate of mouse oocyte activation following human sperm injection is greatly influenced by the state of the sperm plasma membrane during injection. When mouse spermatozoa were injected into mouse oocytes, the rates of oocyte activation and sperm head decondensation within activated oocytes were the same irrespective of the type of sperm treatment prior to injection. We witnessed that live human spermatozoa injected into moue oocytes often kept moving very actively within the ooplasm for more than 60 min, whereas motile mouse spermatozoa usually became immotile within 20 min after injection into the ooplasm. In 0.002% Triton X-100 solution, mouse spermatozoa are immobilised faster than human spermatozoa. These facts seem to suggest that human sperm plasma membranes are physically and biochemically more stable than those of mouse spermatozoa. Perhaps the physical and chemical properties of the sperm plasma membrane vary from species to species. For those species whose spermatozoa have ‘stable’ plasma membranes, prior removal or ‘damage’ of sperm plasma membranes would increase the success rate of ICSI.

Evidence for microtubule nucleation at plasma membrane-associated sites in Drosophila

1987 ◽  
Vol 88 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.M. Mogensen ◽  
J.B. Tucker
Keyword(s):  
Plasma Membrane ◽  
Cell Differentiation ◽  
Cross Section ◽  
Plasma Membranes ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Apical Cell ◽  
Apical Plasma Membrane ◽  
Cell Surfaces ◽  
Microtubule Organizing Centres ◽  
Oriented Parallel

This report is concerned with the nucleation and organization of microtubule bundles that assemble after ‘conventional’ centrosomal microtubule-organizing centres have been lost. The microtubule bundles in question span the lengths of wing epidermal cells. Bundles extend between hemidesmosomes at the apical cuticle-secreting surfaces of cells and basal attachment desmosomes that unite the dorsal and ventral epidermal layers of developing wing blades. Furthermore, each bundle includes up to 1500 microtubules and most of the microtubules are composed of 15 protofilaments. Individual cells were serially cross-sectioned at an early stage of bundle assembly. The number of microtubule profiles/cell cross-section decreased progressively by up to 59% of the most apical values in section sequences cut from fairly apical to more basal levels in the cells. The apical ends of microtubules were associated with numerous small dense plaque-like sites (diameter 0.1-0.2 micron), which were specialized regions of plasma membranes at the apical surfaces of cells. Many of the microtubules near apical plaques were not well aligned with each other; they ‘radiated away’ from cell apices. This was in contrast to the situation at more basal levels where most microtubules were oriented parallel to the longitudinal axes of cells. These findings indicate that the relatively dispersed arrays of apical plasma membrane-associated plaques act as microtubule-nucleating sites to initiate basally directed elongation of bundle microtubules. Apical cell surfaces and their plaques seem to operate as microtubule-nucleating and -organizing regions that functionally replace the centrosomal microtubule-organizing centres lost earlier in cell differentiation.

scholarly journals ROLE OF THE GAMETE MEMBRANES IN FERTILIZATION IN SACCOGLOSSUS KOWALEVSKII (ENTEROPNEUSTA)

1963 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 501-518 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Hunter Colwin ◽  
Arthur L. Colwin
Keyword(s):  
Plasma Membrane ◽  
Membrane Fusion ◽  
Plasma Membranes ◽  
Sperm Nucleus ◽  
Zygote Formation ◽  
General Hypothesis ◽  
Acrosomal Vesicle ◽  
Saccoglossus Kowalevskii ◽  
Sperm Plasma Membrane

An earlier paper showed that in Saccoglossus the acrosomal tubule makes contact with the egg plasma membrane. The present paper includes evidence that the sperm and egg plasma membranes fuse to establish the single continuous zygote membrane which, consequently, is a mosaic. Contrary to the general hypothesis of Tyler, pinocytosis or phagocytosis plays no role in zygote formation. Contact between the gametes is actually between two newly exposed surfaces: in the spermatozoon, the surface was formerly the interior of the acrosomal vesicle; in the egg, it was membrane previously covered by the egg envelopes. The concept that all the events of fertilization are mediated by a fertilizin-antifertilizin reaction seems an oversimplification of events actually observed: rather, the evidence indicates that a series of specific biochemical interactions probably would be involved. Gamete membrane fusion permits sperm periacrosomal material to meet the egg cytoplasm; if an activating substance exists in the spermatozoon it probably is periacrosomal rather than acrosomal in origin. The contents of the acrosome are expended in the process of delivering the sperm plasma membrane to the egg plasma membrane. After these membranes coalesce, the sperm nucleus and other internal sperm structures move into the egg cytoplasm.

Bicarbonate stimulated phospholipid scrambling induces cholesterol redistribution and enables cholesterol depletion in the sperm plasma membrane

2001 ◽  
Vol 114 (19) ◽  
pp. 3543-3555 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frits M. Flesch ◽  
Jos F. H. M. Brouwers ◽  
Patricia F. E. M. Nievelstein ◽  
Arie J. Verkleij ◽  
Lambert M. G. van Golde ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plasma Membrane ◽  
Cholesterol Efflux ◽  
Sperm Head ◽  
Sperm Cells ◽  
Cholesterol Depletion ◽  
Apical Surface ◽  
Epididymal Maturation ◽  
Head Surface ◽  
Sperm Plasma Membrane ◽  
Phospholipid Scrambling

Mammalian sperm cells are activated prior to fertilization by high bicarbonate levels, which facilitate lipoprotein-mediated cholesterol efflux. The role of bicarbonate and cholesterol acceptors on the cholesterol organization in the sperm plasma membrane was tested. Bicarbonate induced an albumin-independent change in lipid architecture that was detectable by an increase in merocyanine staining (due to protein kinase A-mediated phospholipid scrambling). The response was limited to a subpopulation of viable sperm cells that were sorted from the non-responding subpopulation by flow cytometry. The responding cells had reduced cholesterol levels (30% reduction) compared with non-responding cells. The subpopulation differences were caused by variable efficiencies in epididymal maturation as judged by cell morphology. Membrane cholesterol organization was observed with filipin, which labeled the entire sperm surface of non-stimulated and non-responding cells, but labeled only the apical surface area of bicarbonate-responding cells. Addition of albumin caused cholesterol efflux, but only in bicarbonate-responding cells that exhibited virtually no filipin labeling in the sperm head area. Albumin had no effect on other lipid components, and no affinity for cholesterol in the absence of bicarbonate. Therefore, bicarbonate induces first a lateral redistribution in the low cholesterol containing spermatozoa, which in turn facilitates cholesterol extraction by albumin. A model is proposed in which phospholipid scrambling induces the formation of an apical membrane raft in the sperm head surface that enables albumin mediated efflux of cholesterol.

scholarly journals OBSERVATIONS ON SPERM PENETRATION IN THE RAT

1961 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel G. Szollosi ◽  
Hans Ris
Keyword(s):  
Plasma Membrane ◽  
Cross Sections ◽  
Plasma Membranes ◽  
Previous Night ◽  
Egg Membrane ◽  
Sperm Plasma Membrane ◽  
Sperm Penetration ◽  
Sperm Midpiece ◽  
New Hypothesis ◽  
Structural Aspects

The structural aspects of sperm penetration in the rat egg were investigated by electron microscopy. Eggs were recovered at intervals between 8 and 10:30 A.M. from females which had mated during the previous night. The oviducts were flushed with hyaluronidase and the eggs transferred into a 2 per cent osmium tetroxide solution, buffered at pH 7.8. After fixation, the eggs were mounted individually in agar, dehydrated in ethyl alcohol, and embedded in butyl-methyl methacrylate (3:1). The sperm penetrating the egg is covered by a plasma membrane which is present only on the side facing toward the zona pellucida; no membrane is visible on the side facing toward the vitellus. The sperm plasma membrane becomes continuous with the egg plasma membrane and forms a deep fold around the entering sperm. Cross-sections through the sperm midpiece in the perivitelline space show an intact plasma membrane. At the place of entrance, the plasma membrane of the sperm appears to fuse with the egg plasma membrane. After the sperm has penetrated the vitellus, it has no plasma membrane at all. The nuclear membrane is also absent. These observations suggest a new hypothesis for sperm penetration. After the sperm has come to lie on the plasma membrane of the egg, the egg and sperm plasma membranes rupture and then fuse with one another to form a continuous cell membrane over the egg and the outer surface of the sperm. As a result the sperm comes to lie inside the vitellus, leaving its own plasma membrane incorporated into the egg membrane at the surface of the egg.

Elaboration of a novel technique for purification of plasma membranes from Xenopus laevis oocytes

2007 ◽  
Vol 292 (3) ◽  
pp. C1132-C1136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandre Leduc-Nadeau ◽  
Karim Lahjouji ◽  
Pierre Bissonnette ◽  
Jean-Yves Lapointe ◽  
Daniel G. Bichet
Keyword(s):  
Plasma Membrane ◽  
Membrane Proteins ◽  
Xenopus Laevis ◽  
Western Blot ◽  
Plasma Membranes ◽  
Transient Receptor Potential ◽  
Expression System ◽  
Vitelline Membrane ◽  
Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid ◽  
Xenopus Laevis Oocytes

Over the past two decades, Xenopus laevis oocytes have been widely used as an expression system to investigate both physiological and pathological properties of membrane proteins such as channels and transporters. Past studies have clearly shown the key implications of mistargeting in relation to the pathogenesis of these proteins. To unambiguously determine the plasma membrane targeting of a protein, a thorough purification technique becomes essential. Unfortunately, available techniques are either too cumbersome, technically demanding, or require large amounts of material, all of which are not adequate when using oocytes individually injected with cRNA or DNA. In this article, we present a new technique that permits excellent purification of plasma membranes from X. laevis oocytes. This technique is fast, does not require particular skills such as peeling of vitelline membrane, and permits purification of multiple samples from as few as 10 and up to >100 oocytes. The procedure combines partial digestion of the vitelline membrane, polymerization of the plasma membrane, and low-speed centrifugations. We have validated this technique essentially with Western blot assays on three plasma membrane proteins [aquaporin (AQP)2, Na+-glucose cotransporter (SGLT)1, and transient receptor potential vanilloid (TRPV)5], using both wild-type and mistargeted forms of the proteins. Purified plasma membrane fractions were easily collected, and samples were found to be adequate for Western blot identification.

scholarly journals ROLE OF THE GAMETE MEMBRANES IN FERTILIZATION IN SACCOGLOSSUS KOWALEVSKII (ENTEROPNEUSTA)

1963 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 477-500 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur L. Colwin ◽  
Laura Hunter Colwin
Keyword(s):  
Plasma Membrane ◽  
Osmium Tetroxide ◽  
Plasma Membranes ◽  
Previous Evidence ◽  
Egg Envelope ◽  
Saccoglossus Kowalevskii ◽  
Acrosomal Membrane ◽  
Peripheral Ring ◽  
Sperm Plasma Membrane

Previous electron microscope studies of sperm-egg association in the annelid Hydroides revealed novel aspects with respect to the acrosomal region. To determine whether these aspects were unique, a comparable study was made of a species belonging to a widely separated phylum, Hemichordata. Osmium tetroxide-fixed polyspermic material of the enteropneust, Saccoglossus, was used. The acrosomal region includes the membrane-bounded acrosome, with its large acrosomal granule and shallow adnuclear invagination, and the periacrosomal material which surrounds the acrosome except at the apex; here, the acrosomal membrane lies very close to the enclosing sperm plasma membrane. After reaching the egg envelope, the spermatozoon is activated and undergoes a series of changes: the apex dehisces and around the resulting orifice the acrosomal and sperm plasma membranes form a continuous mosaic membrane. The acrosomal granule disappears. Within 7 seconds the invagination becomes the acrosomal tubule, spans the egg envelopes, and meets the egg plasma membrane. The rest of the acrosomal vesicle everts. The periacrosomal mass changes profoundly: part becomes a fibrous core (possibly equivalent to a perforatorium); part remains as a peripheral ring. The basic pattern of structure and sperm-egg association in Saccoglossus is the same as in Hydroides. Previous evidence from four other phyla as interpreted here also indicates conformity to this pattern. The major role of the acrosome is apparently to deliver the sperm plasma membrane to the egg plasma membrane.

scholarly journals Isolation and electrophoretic characterization of the plasma membrane of sea-urchin sperm

1983 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-25
Author(s):  
N.L. Cross
Keyword(s):  
Plasma Membrane ◽  
Plasma Membranes ◽  
Specific Activity ◽  
Periodic Acid ◽  
Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis ◽  
Sodium Dodecyl ◽  
Blue Staining ◽  
Coomassie Blue Staining ◽  
Electrophoretic Patterns ◽  
Sperm Plasma Membrane

A subcellular fraction containing plasma membranes was isolated from flagella of the sperm of Strongylocentrotus purpuratus by differential centrifugation, and analysed by sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Coomassie Blue staining revealed nine major bands and 14 minor species. Five bands of apparent molecular weights approximately 200 X 10(3), 149 X 10(3), 120 X 10(3), 75 X 10(3) and 59 X 10(3) also stained with periodic acid-Schiff's reagent and so are probably glycoproteins. These five components are externally exposed, as determined by lactoperoxidase-catalysed radio-iodination. Isolation of membranes from radio-iodinated sperm results in an enrichment of about tenfold in the specific activity of 125I. Comparison of the electrophoretic patterns of labelled sperm and of the membranes isolated from 125I-labelled sperm suggests that no major labelled proteins are lost during the isolation procedure, and so to this extent the membrane fraction is representative of the entire sperm plasma membrane.

scholarly journals Visualization and quantification of glycolipid polarity dynamics in the plasma membrane of the mammalian spermatozoon

1994 ◽  
Vol 107 (8) ◽  
pp. 2151-2163 ◽  
Author(s):  
B.M. Gadella ◽  
T.W. Gadella ◽  
B. Colenbrander ◽  
L.M. van Golde ◽  
M. Lopes-Cardozo
Keyword(s):  
Plasma Membrane ◽  
Sperm Head ◽  
Breakdown Product ◽  
Prolonged Storage ◽  
Sperm Cells ◽  
Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging ◽  
Outer Leaflet ◽  
Head Surface ◽  
Sperm Plasma Membrane

Seminolipid (sulphogalactosylalkylacylglycerol), the glycolipid that is specific for mammalian germ cells, is located exclusively in the outer leaflet of the sperm plasma membrane. In this study the lateral distribution of seminolipid on sperm heads has been investigated by indirect immunofluorescence labelling and detection with digital imaging fluorescence microscopy. In freshly ejaculated sperm cells this glycolipid was present primarily at the apical ridge subdomain of the plasma membrane of the sperm head. After binding the sperm cells to zona-coated coverslips seminolipid migrated, in 40 minutes, from the apical ridge to the equatorial subdomain of the plasma membrane. A similar redistribution of seminolipid was observed during capacitation of sperm cells in vitro induced by Ca2+ or bovine serum albumin. Comparable migration of seminolipid was also found after prolonged storage of ejaculated sperm cells, albeit at a much slower rate. Addition of arylsulphatase A, an enzyme present in seminal plasma that desulphates seminolipid, significantly enhanced the migration of seminolipid during storage of sperm cells. Its breakdown product desulphoseminolipid (galactosylalkylacylglycerol) appeared highly specifically at the equatorial segment. The measured fluorescence intensity over the sperm head surface correlated linearly with the spatial probe distribution as was checked by fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy. This paper demonstrates and quantifies for the first time the polarity of seminolipid on the surface of the sperm cell and the dynamic alterations that occur in this polarity during post-ejaculatory events.

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