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Comparative Study on Components and Activities of Sperm Head Plasma Membrane in Active and Hibernating Animals

1999; Springer Nature; Volume: 29; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

2287-5123

Yung-Keun Oh, Byung-Sik Ahn, In-Ho Choi, Noh‐Pal Jung, Hyung-Cheul Shin, Byoung-Ju Kwak,

Reproductive Biology and Fertility

Fertilization pattern of north temperate bats is known to be unique for their sperm storage in the female reproductive tract during hibernation (e.g. Korean greater horseshoe bats). They copulate in fall but their ejaculated spermatozoa survive until the next spring. In another words they can persist to survive during long hibernation under the cold condition and are to be fertilized with the ovum ovulated in the next spring, so called delayed fertilization. The present study was designed to observe morphological and functional changes of spermatozoa plasma membrane of the bats, hamsters which are hibernators, and mice which are non-hibernators in the room and the cold (bat-hibernation) temperatures and to confirm influence of the temperature on spermatozoa; survival rate, acrosome reaction rate, protein distribution, activities and scanning electron microscopic histochemistry. Based on the experimental results obtained in the present study, there were no significant morphological and functional differences in the spermatozoa plasma membrane in both the room and cold (bat-hibernation) temperatures and such an absence of difference suggests that the spermatozoa plasma membrane might play a pertinent role as a protector for consistent fertilization during and after hibernation.