Calmodulin antagonists are involved in mouse sperm capacitation / 中华男科学杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the possible involvement of calmodulin in mouse sperm capacitation.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Calmodulin antagonists W7 at the concentrations of 50, 100 and 200 micromol/L and calmidazolium (CZ) at the concentrations of 10, 20 and 30 micromol/ L, were coincubated with mouse sperm for 2 hours, respectively. The percentage of pattern B sperm was measured by chlorotetracycline staining. Then the sperm were coincubated with 100 micromol/L W7 or 10 micromol/L calmidazolium (CZ) before acrosome reaction was induced by 5 micromol/L progesterone and evaluated by the same method.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>After the treatment of the sperm with different concentrations of CZ or W7, the percentages of pattern B sperm decreased in a dose-dependent manner, significantly different from the control (P < 0.05). There was a statistic difference in the rate of acrosome reaction between the experiment and the control group (P < 0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Calmodulin is a key protein involved in mouse sperm capacitation.</p>