TY - JOUR
T1 - Infertile spermatozoa of c-ros tyrosine kinase receptor knockout mice show flagellar angulation and maturational defects in cell volume regulatory mechanisms
AU - Yeung, Ching Hei
AU - Sonnenberg-Riethmacher, Eva
AU - Cooper, Trevor G.
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2007 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 1999
Y1 - 1999
N2 - Homozygous c-ros knockout male mice that lack prepubertal differentiation of the epididymal initial segment are healthy but sterile, despite normal sperm production and mating. Detailed computerized analysis of the motility of spermatozoa maturing in the epididymis revealed only minor defects. However, the majority of motile mature sperm released from the cauda epididymidis showed various extents of flagellar angulation that could not be corrected by raising extracellular osmolality. Measurement of the osmolality of cauda epididymal fluid showed no difference from the wild type. Studies in wild-type mice indicated a maturational change in the ability of motile sperm to maintain straight flagella during incubation, but angulation was induced in cauda sperm by the volume-sensitive ion channel blockers quinine, 5-nitro- 2-(3-phenylpropylamino)-benzoic acid and BaCl2, or by exposure to hypotonic media. Flagellar angulation, induced in the wild type or intrinsic to the knockout, was relieved upon demembranation by Triton X-100, confirming that it was a cell swelling phenomenon. A lack of response of immature wild-type sperm and mature knockout sperm to the channel blockers suggests that there is normally a development of the volume regulatory mechanisms upon maturation that is defective in sperm from the knockout animal. The resultant flagellar angulation may account for the reduction in sperm numbers in the oviduct of mated females and the failure to fertilize in vivo.
AB - Homozygous c-ros knockout male mice that lack prepubertal differentiation of the epididymal initial segment are healthy but sterile, despite normal sperm production and mating. Detailed computerized analysis of the motility of spermatozoa maturing in the epididymis revealed only minor defects. However, the majority of motile mature sperm released from the cauda epididymidis showed various extents of flagellar angulation that could not be corrected by raising extracellular osmolality. Measurement of the osmolality of cauda epididymal fluid showed no difference from the wild type. Studies in wild-type mice indicated a maturational change in the ability of motile sperm to maintain straight flagella during incubation, but angulation was induced in cauda sperm by the volume-sensitive ion channel blockers quinine, 5-nitro- 2-(3-phenylpropylamino)-benzoic acid and BaCl2, or by exposure to hypotonic media. Flagellar angulation, induced in the wild type or intrinsic to the knockout, was relieved upon demembranation by Triton X-100, confirming that it was a cell swelling phenomenon. A lack of response of immature wild-type sperm and mature knockout sperm to the channel blockers suggests that there is normally a development of the volume regulatory mechanisms upon maturation that is defective in sperm from the knockout animal. The resultant flagellar angulation may account for the reduction in sperm numbers in the oviduct of mated females and the failure to fertilize in vivo.
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U2 - 10.1095/biolreprod61.4.1062
DO - 10.1095/biolreprod61.4.1062
M3 - Article
C2 - 10491645
AN - SCOPUS:0032830668
VL - 61
SP - 1062
EP - 1069
JO - Biology of Reproduction
JF - Biology of Reproduction
SN - 0006-3363
IS - 4
ER -