title: Binding of mouse sperm to beta-galactose residues on egg zona pellucida and asialofetuin-coupled beads.
abstract: Mouse eggs fixed with paraformaldehyde were incubated with various exoglycosidases and their sperm-binding activities were examined. The number of sperm bound per egg was increased by sialidase treatment and decreased by beta-galactosidase treatment. No prominent reduction of sperm-binding was observed after alpha-galactosidase treatment. Mouse sperm also bound to asialofetuin-coupled agarose beads but not to fetuin-coupled beads. The sperm-binding was abolished when asialofetuin-gel was treated with beta-galactosidase specific to the beta 1-->4 linkage or N-Glycanase. Furthermore asialofetuin, but not beta-galactosidase-treated asialofetuin, competitively inhibited the binding of sperm to the zona pellucida of live eggs. These results suggest that mouse sperm recognize beta-galactose residues of the zona pellucida at the initial stage of the binding.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, University of Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Takasaki
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001212:Asialoglycoproteins / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D001667:Binding, Competitive; D005260:Female; D060748:Fetuins; D005690:Galactose / Q000378:metabolism*; D006026:Glycoside Hydrolases / Q000494:pharmacology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008863:Microspheres; D010063:Ovum / Q000187:drug effects; D012685:Sepharose; D013084:Sperm-Ovum Interactions / Q000187:drug effects; D015044:Zona Pellucida / Q000378:metabolism*; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D001212:Asialoglycoproteins; D060748:Fetuins; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins; C017029:asialofetuin; D012685:Sepharose; D006026:Glycoside Hydrolases; D005690:Galactose