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Protein phosphatase-type 2B is involved in the regulation of the acrosome reaction but not in the temperature-dependent flagellar movement of fowl spermatozoa

Laboratory of Animal Reproduction, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Miyazaki, Miyazaki 889-2192, Japan and ¹ Department of Molecular and Life Sciences, University of Abertay Dundee, Dundee DD1 1HG, UK

Correspondence should be addressed to K Ashizawa; Email: ashizawa{at}cc.miyazaki-u.ac.jp

The motility and acrosomal integrity of fowl spermatozoa in TES/NaCl buffer, with or without homogenized inner perivitelline layers (IPVL) prepared from laid fowl eggs, was almost negligible at 40 °C. However, motility became vigorous even at 40 °C when 2 mmol CaCl₂/l was added, and the acrosome reaction was also stimulated in the presence, but not in the absence, of IPVL. The presence of deltamethrin or fenvalerate, specific inhibitors of protein phosphatase-type 2B (PP2B), did not permit the restoration of motility at 40 °C but, in the presence of IPVL, these compounds stimulated the acrosome reaction in a dose-dependent manner in the range of 1–1000 nmol/l. These results suggest that IPVL is necessary for the activation of the acrosome reaction in fowl spermatozoa and that Ca²⁺ plays an important role in the stimulation of motility and acrosomal exocytosis. Furthermore, it appears that the intracellular molecular mechanisms for the regulation of the acrosome reaction of fowl spermatozoa are different from those for the restoration of motility, i.e. protein dephosphorylation by PP2B in the former but not in the latter case.