Evidence for the reconstitution of motility by epididymal plasma-protein factor(s) in immotile washed spermatozoa from goat cauda epididymis.
Approx. 90% of the highly motile goat cauda-epididymal spermatozoa lose motility completely due to removal of the surrounding epididymal plasma (EP) by washing with a modified Ringer's solution. Motility can however, be reconstituted in approx. 80% of these washed cells that lost motility during washing, with the addition of goat cauda-EP. The activity of the EP-factor(s) that cause reconstitution of motility in the washed immotile spermatozoa, is nondialysable and sensitive to the action of trypsin. The activity of the factor(s) is not dependent on exogenous Ca2+ (1 mM), Mg2+ (1.2 mM), cyclic AMP (5 mM) or dibutyryl cyclic AMP (5 mM). The novel system may thus serve as an excellent analytical tool to yield an insight into the molecular basis of the regulation of spermatozoal motility.
D000818:Animals; D001826:Body Fluids / Q000502:physiology*; D004822:Epididymis / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D006041:Goats; D008297:Male; D013081:Sperm Motility; D014357:Trypsin / Q000494:pharmacology
D014357:Trypsin