PMID: 9537287Apr 16, 1998Paper

Cytoplasmic extrusion and the switch from creatine kinase B to M isoform are completed by the commencement of epididymal transport in human and stallion spermatozoa

Journal of Andrology
Gabor HuszarL Johnson

Abstract

Although in several species there is a relationship between epididymal sperm transport and fertility, in human in vitro fertilization (IVF), spermatozoa recovered from the caput epididymidis or even the rete testis are fertile. We studied two objective markers of sperm maturity in the sperm of men and stallions: creatine kinase (CK) concentrations, which are a measure of cytoplasmic retention in immature spermatozoa, and the ratio of CK-M and CK-B isoforms (% CK-M/[CK-M + CK-B]), which is proportional to the incidence of mature sperm. The CK markers and the fertilizing function are closely related: Immature sperm with cytoplasmic retention do not bind to the zona, because during cytoplasmic extrusion, the sperm plasma membrane is also remodeled. We examined whether changes in sperm CK values are still ongoing during epididymal transport, or if cellular maturation is completed prior to the arrival of sperm in the caput epididymidis. The incidences of mature sperm in human caput and corpus epididymidis (studied in six men with obstructive azoospermia of various pathogeneses) were (mean+/-SEM) 55.7+/-2.2 and 49.3+/-7.6%, respectively; and the sperm CK-M ratios in the caput epididymidis of three men were 72, 75, and 70%, values tha...Continue Reading

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