title: Addition of androgens to cultured hamster epididymis increases zona recognition by immature spermatozoa.
abstract: The ability of spermatozoa recovered from the successive segments of the hamster epididymis to bind to the zona pellucida was studied and a major increase was found as spermatozoa passed from the proximal to the distal portion of the corpus epididymidis (1.95 compared with 20 spermatozoa bound/egg). Tubules from the proximal epididymis were cultured in conditions which preserved the motility of the contained spermatozoa for 48-72 h. Addition of 2 microM-5 alpha-DHT to the culture medium for 17 h stimulated the incorporation of 3H-labelled amino acids into several protein bands whose mobility in polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis was coincident with those of glycoproteins EP1-EP6, previously identified as androgen-dependent in the hamster epididymis in vivo. Examination of the material extracted from washed spermatozoa with 0.5 M-NaCl revealed the presence of radioactive proteins on spermatozoa. The zona-binding ability of spermatozoa from androgen-treated cultured proximal corpus tubules was significantly increased (P less than 0.001) as was the no. of spermatozoa/egg (5.51) compared with the value for control cultures (0.87 spermatozoa/egg). We suggest that androgen-dependent epididymal secretory proteins that associate with spermatozoa might participate in the formation or activation of a site for zona pellucida recognition in the sperm surface.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006224:Cricetinae; D003534:Cyproterone / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000494:pharmacology; D017373:Cyproterone Acetate; D013196:Dihydrotestosterone / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004822:Epididymis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005306:Fertilization / Q000187:drug effects*; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000096:biosynthesis; D008297:Male; D008647:Mesocricetus; D009924:Organ Culture Techniques; D013084:Sperm-Ovum Interactions / Q000187:drug effects*; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D015044:Zona Pellucida / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D006023:Glycoproteins; D013196:Dihydrotestosterone; D017373:Cyproterone Acetate; D003534:Cyproterone