title: Characteristics of sperm motility induced on the egg-jelly in the internal fertilization of the newt, Cynops pyrrhogaster.
abstract: Most urodeles undergo internal fertilization and sperm are directly inseminated onto the surface of egg-jelly. Feature of sperm motility induced on the egg-jelly was examined in the newt, Cynops pyrrhogaster. When sperm were directly inseminated onto an egg-jelly, sperm motility was immediately induced on its surface. The egg-jelly of C. pyrrhogaster was composed of six sublayers that were added by turns in oviduct. When the eggs with various sets of the sublayers were obtained and sperm were inseminated onto the egg-jelly, the immediate activity for the initiation of sperm motility was observed only on the outermost sublayer. Similarly, the immediate initiation of sperm motility was induced in the sperm suspended in the extract of the egg-jelly (JE). The initiation of sperm motility was affected by the external pH, and the motility was activated in the moving sperm. A K(+)-channel antagonist, charybdotoxin (CTX), or a Ca(2+)-channel antagonist, gallopamil inhibited the initiation of sperm motility in a dose dependent manner. These results demonstrated the feature of the mechanism regulating sperm motility under stable surroundings in the internal fertilization of amphibians.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Yamagata University, Yamagata 990-8560, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshihiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Tokuko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Itoh
authors.forename: Akihiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Onitake
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism; D018999:Charybdotoxin / Q000494:pharmacology; D005260:Female; D005306:Fertilization / Q000502:physiology*; D005711:Gallopamil / Q000494:pharmacology; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008297:Male; D010063:Ovum / Q000502:physiology*; D011188:Potassium / Q000378:metabolism; D012455:Salamandridae / Q000502:physiology*; D013081:Sperm Motility / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D018999:Charybdotoxin; D005711:Gallopamil; D011188:Potassium; D002118:Calcium