Redistribution of the intra-acrosomal EGFP before acrosomal exocytosis in mouse spermatozoa.

ABSTRACT: Mammalian spermatozoa must undergo complex physiological and morphological alterations within the female reproductive tract before they become fertilization competent. Two important alterations are capacitation and the acrosome reaction (AR), by which spermatozoa become capable of penetrating the zona pellucida (ZP) of the oocyte. Although various biochemical stimulants have been reported to induce the AR, the true physiological inducer in vivo remains to be identified. Previously, it has been reported that most fertilizing spermatozoa undergo the AR before contacting the ZP and that only a small fraction of in vitro-capacitated spermatozoa can penetrate the ZP. Therefore, it is important to identify which capacitating spermatozoa undergo the AR in response to potential AR inducers such as

SUBMITTER: Hirohashi N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4458856 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature