scholarly journals Signal transduction mechanisms involved in in vitro ram sperm capacitation

Reproduction ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 132 (5) ◽  
pp. 721-732 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Grasa ◽  
José Álvaro Cebrián-Pérez ◽  
Teresa Muiño-Blanco

We validate the chlortetracycline (CTC) technique for the evaluation of capacitation and acrosome reaction-like changes in ram sperm, carrying out a double estimation of the acrosome status after treatment with lysophosphatidylcholine, using fluorescein isocyanate (FITC)-RCA/ethidium homodimer 1 (EthD-1) and CTC/EthD-1. Highly consistent results and a positive correlation between the results of acrosome-reacted sperm evaluated with both techniques were obtained. In this study, we evaluate the effects of ram sperm capacitation of BSA, Ca2+, NaHCO3and cAMP agonists and their influence on the associated protein tyrosine phosphorylation. We found a time-dependent increase in capacitation related to protein tyrosine phosphorylation, either in the absence or the presence of BSA. The addition of an increasing concentration of cholesterol to samples containing BSA did not influence results. The effect of bicarbonate was concentration-dependent, with a significantly lowered value of non-capacitated sperm in the presence 18 and 25 mM. The addition of extracellular calcium did not significantly increase either the proportion of capacitated sperm or the protein tyrosine phosphorylation signalling, although a significantly higher value of acrosome-reacted sperm was found in samples containing 4 mM Ca2+. cAMP agonists increased capacitated sperm and protein tyrosine phosphorylation signalling. The inhibition of protein kinase A by H-89 caused a decrease in sperm capacitation. Addition of a calcium-entry blocker (Verapamil; Sigma) did not influence results, which suggests that the calcium entry blocker was unable to inhibit the calcium influx associated with capacitation in ram sperm. Our findings might benefit our understanding of the biochemical mechanisms involved in mammalian sperm capacitation and ultimately, fertility.

Development ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 121 (4) ◽  
pp. 1129-1137 ◽  
Author(s):  
P.E. Visconti ◽  
J.L. Bailey ◽  
G.D. Moore ◽  
D. Pan ◽  
P. Olds-Clarke ◽  
...  

The molecular basis of mammalian sperm capacitation, defined functionally as those processes that confer on the sperm the acquisition of fertilization-competence either in vivo in the female reproductive tract or in vitro, is poorly understood. We demonstrate here that capacitation of caudal epididymal mouse sperm in vitro is accompanied by a time-dependent increase in the protein tyrosine phosphorylation of a subset of proteins of M(r) 40,000-120,000. Incubation of sperm in media devoid of bovine serum albumin, CaCl2 or NaHCO3, components which individually are required for capacitation, prevent the sperm from undergoing capacitation as assessed by the ability of the cells to acquire the pattern B chlortetracycline fluorescence, to undergo the zona pellucida-induced acrosome reaction and, in some cases, to fertilize metaphase II-arrested eggs in vitro. In each of these cases the protein tyrosine phosphorylation of the subset of capacitation-associated proteins does not occur. Protein tyrosine phosphorylation of these particular proteins, as well as sperm capacitation, can be recovered in media devoid of each of these three constituents (bovine serum albumin, CaCl2 or NaHCO3) by adding back the appropriate component in a concentration-dependent manner. The requirement of NaHCO3 for these phosphorylations is not due to an alkalinization of intracellular sperm pH or to an increase in media pH. Caput epididymal sperm, which lack the ability to undergo capacitation in vitro, do not display this capacitation-dependent subset of tyrosine phosphorylated proteins in complete media even after extended incubation periods, and do not fertilize metaphase II-arrested eggs in vitro.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 649 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Colas ◽  
Peter James ◽  
Liz Howes ◽  
Roy Jones ◽  
José A. Cebrian-Perez ◽  
...  

Unlike most other species, ram spermatozoa are difficult to capacitate in vitro. Bicarbonate and Ca2+ are necessary, whereas bovine serum albumin does not appear to be obligatory. In the present investigation we have assessed (1) the ability of the cholesterol-sequestering agent, methyl-β-cyclodextrin (M-β-CD), to initiate protein tyrosine phosphorylation, and (2) the importance of phosphodiesterases (PDEs) in controlling the levels of cAMP. Results show that despite removing significant amounts of membrane cholesterol, as assessed by filipin staining, M-β-CD treatment did not stimulate major increases in protein tyrosine phosphorylation. Addition of a cocktail of PDE inhibitors (theophylline and caffeine), a phosphatase inhibitor (okadaic acid) and dibutyryl-cAMP (db-cAMP), however, stimulated specific tyrosine phosphorylation of several proteins between 30 and 120 kDa. On their own, none of the above reagents were effective but a combination of db-cAMP + PDE inhibitors was sufficient to achieve a maximal response. H-89, a protein kinase-A inhibitor, suppressed tyrosine phosphorylation significantly. Immunofluorescence revealed that the newly-phosphorylated proteins localised mainly in the sperm tail. These findings suggest that in ram spermatozoa cAMP levels are too low to initiate tyrosine phosphorylation of flagellar proteins that are indicative of the capacitation state and that this is caused by unusually high levels of intracellular PDEs.


2006 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 155 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Galantino-Homer ◽  
W. Zeng ◽  
S. Megee ◽  
M. Modelski ◽  
I. Dobrinski

Porcine sperm are extremely sensitive to the damaging effects of cold shock and cryopreservation. Cholesterol-binding molecules, such as 2-hydroxypropyl-�-cyclodextrin (HBCD), improve post-thaw and post-cooling porcine sperm viability when added to an egg yolk-based extender, but also enhance sperm capacitation in other species. Depending upon the environmental cholesterol content, HBCD can act either as a cholesterol shuttle or sink to increase or decrease, respectively, sperm plasma membrane cholesterol content. Increasing the sperm cholesterol to phospholipid ratio reduces cold shock sensitivity whereas decreasing the ratio initiates the process of sperm capacitation. An increase in protein tyrosine phosphorylation correlates with sperm capacitation and has been shown to be dependent upon the presence of extracellular calcium. Sperm intracellular calcium also increases during cold shock. The objective of this study was to determine the combined effects of extracellular calcium and membrane cholesterol manipulation on porcine sperm viability and protein tyrosine phosphorylation following cold shock (10�C for 10 min). Viability was assessed using CFDA/propidium iodide staining. Protein tyrosine phosphorylation, previously shown to correlate with porcine sperm capacitation, was evaluated via antiphosphotyrosine (clone 4G10) immunoblots. We report here that following cold shock, porcine sperm incubated in defined medium containing both 0.8 mM HBCD and 0.5 mM cholesterol 3-sulfate (ChS) incubated in the absence of added extracellular calcium and the presence of 6 mM EGTA have significantly improved viability (90.5 � 6.3%, n = 3) when compared with cold-shocked sperm incubated in either the same medium with calcium (46.1 � 3.8%), without HBCD or ChS (26.5 � 7.4% with calcium; 46.5 � 13.1% without calcium), or with HBCD alone (17.0 � 7.4% with calcium, 36.8 � 7.5% without calcium). As we have found previously, treatment with 0.8 mM HBCD plus 0.5 mM ChS completely inhibited the increase in protein tyrosine phosphorylation induced by the cold shock treatment. Although protein tyrosine phosphorylation correlates with porcine sperm capacitation, the ability of cold shock treatment to induce the same phosphorylation pattern indicates that other processes or pathways may contribute to its appearance. Removing extracellular calcium consistently decreased, but did not completely eliminate, the protein tyrosine phosphorylation induced by cold shock. These results indicate that cold shock-induced protein tyrosine phosphorylation is not dependent upon, but can be modulated by, extracellular calcium. The combined effects of calcium, HBCD and ChS on viability suggest that porcine sperm viability following cold shock is best maintained by removing extracellular calcium and increasing membrane cholesterol content via the cholesterol shuttle activity of HBCD. This work was supported by grants from PA Dept. Ag. (ME 443291) and the NIH (5-K08-HD041430).


1998 ◽  
Vol 274 (2) ◽  
pp. H513-H519 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan A. Kelly ◽  
Pascal J. Goldschmidt-Clermont ◽  
Emily E. Milliken ◽  
Toshiyuki Arai ◽  
Elise H. Smith ◽  
...  

Proinflammatory cytokines initiate the vascular inflammatory response via the upregulation of adhesion molecules on the luminal endothelial surface. We investigated directly the role of protein tyrosine phosphorylation in the upregulation of the endothelial adhesion molecules, intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) and E-selectin, and the consequent adhesion of neutrophils, after tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α-stimulation of human aortic endothelial cells in vitro. Time- and dose-dependent TNF-α-stimulated ICAM-1 and E-selectin upregulation and neutrophil adhesion each were suppressed by tyrosine kinase inhibitors, including genistein (200 μM), but not genistin, its isoflavone analog without tyrosine kinase inhibitory activity. Tyrphostin AG 126, a synthetic selective tyrosine kinase inhibitor, also suppressed ICAM-1 and E-selectin upregulation and neutrophil adhesion, each in a dose-dependent manner, whereas tyrphostin AG 1288 had no effect. Tyrosine phosphorylation of two proteins (85 and 145 kDa in the cytoskeleton fraction) found minutes after TNF-α-stimulation was also inhibited by genistein. These findings suggest that, in endothelial cells, TNF-α upregulates ICAM-1 and E-selectin expression and consequent neutrophil adhesion via protein tyrosine phosphorylation.


2017 ◽  
Vol 483 (2) ◽  
pp. 834-839 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aideé S. López-Torres ◽  
María E. González-González ◽  
Esperanza Mata-Martínez ◽  
Fernando Larrea ◽  
Claudia L. Treviño ◽  
...  

Reproduction ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 153 (5) ◽  
pp. 655-669 ◽  
Author(s):  
Durgesh Kumar Singh ◽  
Rohit Kumar Deshmukh ◽  
Praveen Kumar Narayanan ◽  
Sisinthy Shivaji ◽  
Archana Bharadwaj Siva

Sperm capacitation is a prerequisite for successful fertilization. Increase in tyrosine phosphorylation is considered the hallmark of capacitation and attempts to understand its regulation are ongoing. In this regard, we attempted to study the role of SRC family kinases (SFKs) in the hamster sperm functions. Interestingly, we found the presence of the lymphocyte-specific protein tyrosine kinase, LCK, in mammalian spermatozoa and further characterized it in terms of its localization and function. LCK was found in spermatozoa of several species, and its transcript was identified in the hamster testis. Autophosphorylation of LCK at the Y394 residue increased as capacitation progressed, indicating an upregulation of LCK activity during capacitation. Inhibition of LCK (and perhaps the other SFKs) with the use of a specific inhibitor showed a significant decrease in protein tyrosine phosphorylation of several proteins, implying LCK/SFKs as key tyrosine kinase(s) regulating tyrosine phosphorylation during hamster sperm capacitation. Dihydrolipoamide dehydrogenase was identified as a substrate for LCK/SFK. LCK/SFKs inhibition significantly reduced the percentage fertilization (in vitro) but had no effect on sperm motility, hyperactivation and acrosome reaction. In summary, this is the first report on the presence of LCK, an SFK of hematopoietic lineage in spermatozoa besides being the first study on the role of SFKs in the spermatozoa of Syrian hamsters.


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