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Sea urchin sperm cation‐selective channels directly modulated by cAMP
Author(s) -
Sánchez Daniel,
Labarca Pedro,
Darszon Alberto
Publication year - 2001
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/s0014-5793(01)02713-2
Subject(s) - sea urchin , sperm , second messenger system , biophysics , ion channel , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , human fertilization , vitelline membrane , chemistry , anatomy , biochemistry , botany , oocyte , signal transduction , receptor , embryo
Components of the sea urchin outer egg jelly layer such as speract drastically change second messenger levels and membrane permeability in sperm. Ion channels are deeply involved in the sperm–egg dialogue in sea urchin and other species. Yet, due to the small size of sperm, studies of ion channels and their modulation by second messengers in sperm are scarce. In this report we offer the first direct evidence that cation‐selective channels upwardly regulated by cAMP operate in sea urchin sperm. Due to their poor selectivity among monovalent cations, channel activation in seawater could contribute to sperm membrane repolarization during the speract response.