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Single‐channel activity in sea urchin sperm revealed by the patch‐clamp technique
Author(s) -
Guerrero A.,
Sánchez J.A.,
Darszon A.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/0014-5793(87)80833-5
Subject(s) - sea urchin , pipette , sperm , patch clamp , biophysics , ion channel , channel (broadcasting) , chemistry , voltage clamp , anatomy , flagellum , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , membrane potential , biochemistry , botany , telecommunications , receptor , computer science , gene
Ionic fluxes are deeply involved in the response of spermatozoa to the egg. Using the patch‐clamp technique, we show for the first time single ion channel activity in sea urchin spermatozoa and spermatozoa heads. Due to their small size gigaseals were obtained in suspended cells by applying suction through the pipette. The rate of gigaseal formation was very low and improved to 6% ( n = 1145) when flagella were detached from sperm. Current‐voltage curves created from single‐channel events showed conductances of approx. 65 and 170 pS, suggesting the presence of two types of channels. At least one appears to be a K + channel.