HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Kraft, L. A. Articles by Lodge, J. R. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Kraft, L. A. Articles by Lodge, J. R.

Carbon Dioxide Uptake during Anaerobic Metabolism of Bovine Spermatozoa¹

Department of Dairy Science, University of Illinois, Urbana 61801

ABSTRACT

Anaerobic CO₂ uptake by bovine spermatozoa has been studied by direct manometric measurements with the Warburg respirometer. This uptake phenomenon requires spermatozoa or their components, pyruvate as substrate, NADH as a co-factor, and a CO₂ containing gas phase. The magnitude of the uptake was directly associated with available NADH in the incubation system since increasing concentrations of NADH between .0–.032 M increased the quantity and duration of CO₂ uptake. Maximum dose-response, however, was not obtained. Mild sonification, which disrupted the spermatozoa into head and midpiece-tail components, caused a much more rapid and somewhat greater CO₂ uptake than whole spermatozoa. Separation of sonified spermatozoa into head-rich and midpiece-tail-rich fractions with a sucrose gradient showed that the majority of uptake activity was located in the midpiece-tail portion of the sperm cell. Whole spermatozoa subjected to a sucrose gradient showed marked uptake activity. Fractionations indicated that the responsible cellular materials had leached into the supernatant forming a cell-free extract with uptake activity characteristic of whole cells. Activity of this supernatant could be preserved at low temperatures and was reduced but not completely eliminated by Millipore filtration (.22 µ). Addition of avidin and malonate as specific enzymatic inhibitors was ineffective in reducing uptake activity of any cell fractions studied.

¹ This work was supported in part by U.S. Public Health Grant GM-1380 awarded to L. A. Kraft and the Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station.

² Present address: Department of Pharmacology, Ortho Research Foundation, Raritan, New Jersey 08869.