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Signalling Events and Associated Pathways Related to the Mammalian Sperm Capacitation
Author(s) -
Gangwar DK,
Atreja SK
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
reproduction in domestic animals
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.546
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1439-0531
pISSN - 0936-6768
DOI - 10.1111/rda.12541
Subject(s) - capacitation , hyperactivation , microbiology and biotechnology , acrosome reaction , phosphorylation , signal transduction , biology , protein kinase a , sperm , adenylyl cyclase , protein phosphorylation , chemistry , biochemistry , genetics , motility
Contents Capacitation is a biological phenomenon occurring prior to fertilization and is a multiple event process. Many physiological and biochemical changes takes place during the process; these changes are related to lipid composition of membrane, intracellular modulation of ion concentration, protein phosphorylation, sperm movement and membrane permeability. These events occur when the sperm is exposed to the new environment of ion concentration in the female reproductive tract. Ions such as bicarbonate and calcium facilitate capacitation by activating adenylyl cyclase, thus initiating protein kinase A ( PKA ) signalling cascade. Extracellular‐regulated kinase pathway is activated by ligand binding to the membrane receptors and intracellular activation by reactive oxygen species ( ROS ). Activation of these pathways leads to the phosphorylation of different proteins, which is associated with events such as capacitation, hyperactivation and acrosome reaction that are essential for successful fertilization. Extensive studies were carried out on protein phosphorylation in relation to capacitation, but its role still remains ambiguous.