In vitro effects of β-carotene for the motility, ATP, and intracellular free Ca2+ concentrations of fowl spermatozoa
✍ Scribed by Koji Ashizawa; Yoshifumi Tomita; Chikako Kanemaru; Yasuhiro Tsuzuki
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2000
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 169 KB
- Volume
- 56
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1040-452X
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✦ Synopsis
The motility of intact fowl spermatozoa was vigorous at 25ЊC, but decreased gradually following the addition of 0-100 M -carotene in a dose-dependent manner. Even in the presence of stimulators of fowl sperm motility, such as Ca 2ϩ or calyculin A, the motility of intact spermatozoa at both 25 and 40ЊC remained inhibited following the addition of -carotene. Under all of these circumstances, sperm ATP concentrations were not reduced by the addition of -carotene. Moreover, the motility of demembranated spermatozoa was not inhibited by the addition of the same concentrations of -carotene. No changes in intracellular free Ca 2ϩ concentrations, measured by means of a fluorescent Ca 2ϩ indicator, fura-2, were observed in intact -carotene -treated spermatozoa. These results suggest that -carotene is involved in the inhibition of the flagellar movement of fowl spermatozoa without change in energy production, and that the target of -carotene might be present in the cytoplasmic matrix and/or the plasma membrane, but not retained in the axoneme and/or accessory cytoskeletal components.