Electrophysiological evidence for the presence of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) in mouse sperm.

ABSTRACT: Mammalian sperm must undergo a maturational process, named capacitation, in the female reproductive tract to fertilize the egg. Sperm capacitation is regulated by a cAMP/protein kinase A (PKA) pathway and involves increases in intracellular Ca(2+), pH, Cl(-), protein tyrosine phosphorylation, and in mouse and some other mammals a membrane potential hyperpolarization. The cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), a Cl(-) channel modulated by cAMP/PKA and ATP, was detected in mammalian sperm and proposed to modulate capacitation. Our whole-cell patch-clamp recordings from testicular mouse sperm now reveal a Cl(-) selective component to membrane current that is ATP-dependent, stimulated by cAMP, cGMP, and genistein (a CFTR agonist, at low concentrations), and inhibited by DP

SUBMITTER: Figueiras-Fierro D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4076061 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature