title: Role of cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate and serum albumin in head-to-head agglutination of boar spermatozoa.
abstract: It has previously been shown that when boar spermatozoa are incubated in a modified Krebs-Ringer bicarbonate (mKRB), head-to-head agglutination occurs in many cells. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cAMP) and serum albumin on sperm agglutination and to discuss a possible mechanism for sperm agglutination. Spermatozoa were collected from four mature boars, washed and incubated in mKRB. After a 1-h incubation, a sample of each sperm suspension was smeared gently on a separate glass slide, dried and stained in a phosphate-buffered solution of Giemsa to assess the percentage of head-to-head agglutinated cells in each suspension. In the samples incubated in mKRB, approximately 50% of the spermatozoa were agglutinated with one another at the acrosome. However, the percentages of head-to-head agglutinated spermatozoa were greatly reduced by a lack of calcium chloride in mKRB, but were recovered by the addition of dibutyryl cAMP (dbcAMP, a cAMP analogue) in a dose-dependent manner between 1 and 1000 microM. Addition of 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine (IBMX, 100 and 500 microM) instead of dbcAMP also significantly increased the percentages of head-to-head agglutinated spermatozoa. Moreover, the effects of adding dbcAMP were attenuated by treatment with Rp-adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphorothioate triethylamine salt (0.25-1.0 mM, a cAMP antagonist) or H-89 (5 microM, a protein kinase-A inhibitor), but were enhanced by treatment with okadaic acid (500 nM) and calyculinA (500 nM) (inhibitors of protein serine/threonine phosphatase). In sperm samples incubated in mKRB containing 0.1% polyvinyl alcohol (mKRB-P) or mKRB-P lacking calcium chloride and supplemented with 1 mM dbcAMP, a lack of bovine serum albumin (BSA) resulted in a significant decrease in the percentages of head-to-head agglutinated spermatozoa. Addition of porcine serum albumin (PSA, 1-4 mg mL(-1)) or methyl-beta-cyclodextrin (MBC, 5-10 mg mL(-1)) instead of BSA was as effective as BSA (4 mg mL(-1)) in enhancing sperm agglutination. However, the effects of BSA (4 mg mL(-1)) or MBC (5 mg mL(-1)) were reduced by pre-mixing these reagents with cholesterol 3-sulfate (a cholesterol analogue, 5 microg mL(-1) for BSA and 375 microg mL(-1) for MBC). In addition, a protein 'anti-agglutinin' inhibiting sperm agglutination, was extracted from spermatozoa incubated with serum albumin or MBC and detected by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and Western blotting techniques. The obtained Western blots revealed that sperm-bound anti-agglutinin was detected less in the samples incubated with either BSA (4 mg mL(-1)) or MBC (5-10 mg mL(-1)), compared with control samples. Moreover, pre-mixing MBC (5 mg mL(-1)) with cholesterol 3-sulfate (375 microg mL(-1)) reduced this reagent's effects on the loss of sperm-bound anti-agglutinin. Additionally, the assay of sperm agglutination and a chlortetracycline staining assay revealed that the percentages of head-to-head agglutinated spermatozoa were positively correlated with those of spermatozoa classified into B pattern (capacitated spermatozoa). These results are consistent with the following suggestions: (i) an adenylyl cyclase-cAMP-protein kinase system mediates a signalling pathway leading to head-to-head agglutination; and (ii) loss of anti-agglutinin from the spermatozoa may be modulated by changes in the plasma membrane induced by actions of serum albumin or MBC contained in a medium.
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Science, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Kobe University, Nada, Japan. harayama@ans.kobe-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Harayama
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Miyake
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kato
mesh_terms: D015056:1-Methyl-3-isobutylxanthine / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D003994:Bucladesine / Q000494:pharmacology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003470:Culture Media / Q000737:chemistry; D000242:Cyclic AMP / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D017868:Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D003505:Cyclodextrins / Q000494:pharmacology; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000494:pharmacology; D007546:Isoquinolines / Q000494:pharmacology; D008297:Male; D008387:Marine Toxins; D010080:Oxazoles / Q000494:pharmacology; D010749:Phosphoprotein Phosphatases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D012709:Serum Albumin / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013073:Sperm Agglutination / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D013075:Sperm Capacitation; D013081:Sperm Motility; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D013449:Sulfonamides; D013552:Swine; D013873:Thionucleotides / Q000494:pharmacology; D047392:beta-Cyclodextrins
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D003505:Cyclodextrins; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D006023:Glycoproteins; D007546:Isoquinolines; D008387:Marine Toxins; D010080:Oxazoles; D012709:Serum Albumin; D013449:Sulfonamides; D013873:Thionucleotides; D047392:beta-Cyclodextrins; C108732:methyl-beta-cyclodextrin; C016957:adenosine-3',5'-cyclic phosphorothioate; D003994:Bucladesine; C059041:calyculin A; D000242:Cyclic AMP; D017868:Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases; D010749:Phosphoprotein Phosphatases; C063509:N-(2-(4-bromocinnamylamino)ethyl)-5-isoquinolinesulfonamide; D015056:1-Methyl-3-isobutylxanthine