Reorganization of mouse sperm lipid rafts by capacitation

    Authors

    C. D. Thaler; M. Thomas;J. R. Ramalie

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Mol. Reprod. Dev.

    Keywords

    capacitation; lipid raft; membrane organization; PROTEIN-TYROSINE PHOSPHORYLATION; MEDIATED SIGNAL-TRANSDUCTION; GUINEA-PIG SPERMATOZOA; MAMMALIAN SPERM; PLASMA-MEMBRANE; ACROSOME; REACTION; ACTIN CYTOSKELETON; BOAR SPERMATOZOA; SNARE PROTEINS; PC12; CELLS; Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Cell Biology; Developmental Biology; Reproductive Biology

    Abstract

    One of the hallmarks of mammalian sperm capacitation is the loss of cholesterol from the plasma membrane. Cholesterol has been associated with the formation of detergent insoluble membrane microdomains in many cell types, and sperm from several mammalian species have been shown to contain detergent-resistant membranes (DRMs). The change in cholesterol composition of the sperm plasma membrane during capacitation raises the question of whether the contents of DRMs are altered during this process. In this study, we investigated changes in protein composition of DRMs isolated from uncapacitated or capacitated mouse sperm. TX-100 insoluble membranes were fractionated by sucrose flotation gradient centrifugation and analyzed by Western and lectin blotting, and capacitation-related differences in protein composition were identified. Following capacitation, the detergent insoluble fractions moved to lighter positions on the sucrose gradients, reflecting a global change in density or composition. We identified several individual proteins that either became enriched or depleted in DRM fractions following capacitation. These data suggest that the physiological changes in sperm motility, ability to penetrate the zona pellucida (ZP), ZP responsiveness, and other capacitation-dependent changes, may be due in part to a functional reorganization of plasma membrane microdomains.

    Journal Title

    Molecular Reproduction and Development

    Volume

    73

    Issue/Number

    12

    Publication Date

    1-1-2006

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    1541

    Last Page

    1549

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000241422900007

    ISSN

    1040-452X

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