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Volume regulation of spermatozoa by quinine‐sensitive channels
Author(s) -
Kulkarni Satish B.,
Sauna Zuben E.,
Somlata V.,
Sitaramam V.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
molecular reproduction and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.745
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1098-2795
pISSN - 1040-452X
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1098-2795(199704)46:4<535::aid-mrd12>3.0.co;2-v
Subject(s) - capacitation , biology , quinine , quinidine , tonicity , volume (thermodynamics) , biophysics , microbiology and biotechnology , endocrinology , pharmacology , immunology , motility , quantum mechanics , malaria , physics
Bovine spermatozoa were shown to exhibit rapid regulatory volume decrease (RVD) when exposed to hypotonic saline media. This quinine‐ and quinidine‐sensitive regulatory volume decrease was coincident with K + release due to stretch‐activation of inhibitor‐specific presumptive K + channels. The regulatory volume decrease response was much faster than a similar phenomenon observed in human peripheral blood lymphocytes. Studies on volume changes in different electrolyte and nonelectrolyte media suggested that: (1) this inhibitor‐specific channel could also be a nonspecific pore in the spermatozoal membrane for nonelectrolytes below 150 daltons; (2) subpopulations (of nearly equal size) of the spermatozoa differ in the expression of the pore; (3) capacitation abolishes this distinction between subpopulations of spermatozoa; and (4) the general case of RVD for other mammalian spermatozoa was also established. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 46:535–550, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.