Abstract
Mammalian sperm acquire fertilizing capacity in the female tract in a process called capacitation. At the molecular level, capacitation requires protein kinase A activation, changes in membrane potential and an increase in intracellular calcium. Inhibition of these pathways results in loss of fertilizing ability in vivo and in vitro. We demonstrated that transient incubation of mouse sperm with Ca 2+ ionophore accelerated capacitation and rescued fertilizing capacity in sperm with inactivated PKA function. We now show that a pulse of Ca2+ ionophore induces fertilizing capacity in sperm from infertile CatSper1 (Ca2+ channel), Adcy10 (soluble adenylyl cyclase) and Slo3 (K+ channel) KO mice. In contrast, sperm from infertile mice lacking the Ca 2+ efflux pump PMACA4 were not rescued. These results indicate that a transient increase in intracellular Ca 2+ can overcome genetic infertility in mice and suggest this approach may prove adaptable to rescue sperm function in certain cases of human male infertility.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 33589 |
Journal | Scientific reports |
Volume | 6 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 15 2016 |
Funding
This work was supported, in whole or in part, by National Institutes of Health Grants HD38082 and HD44044 (to P.E.V.); GM107442 and HD059913 (to L.R.L. and J.B.); 1R21HD078942-01A1 (to J.M.); HD051872 (to R.A.F.); R01HD069631 (to C.M.S.); RO3HD073523 (to P.M.-D.L.); and DGAPA/UNAM (IN205516 to A.D.). The authors would like to thank Dr. Jean-Ju Chung and Dr. David Clapham who kindly donated the catsper1-/-mice.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General