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EFFECT OF 9-TETRAHYDROCANNABINOL ON THE MEMBRANE PERMEABILITY OF BULL SPERMATOZOA TO POTASSIUM

Israel Institute for Biological Research, Ness-Ziona, Israel

(Received 1st August 1974)

Previous investigations in our laboratory have indicated that 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive component of cannabis (hashish), adversely affected bull spermatozoa in vitro. The effect consisted of a decrease in respiration and ATP content, changes in motility, and morphological abnormalities, such as swelling of the mitochondrial helix region (Shahar & Bino, 1973; Shahar, Bino, Kalay & Homonnai, 1973). At the same time, THC has been found to decrease ATPase in rat and human erythrocytes, protecting these cells against hypotonic haemolysis and inhibiting cation uptake (Chari-Bitron, 1971; Raz, Schurr & Livne, 1972; Gibermann, Chari-Bitron, Millo & Gothilf, 1974). We therefore decided to investigate the possible changes in the membrane permeability of bull sperm cells to potassium following exposure to THC.

Freshly collected bull spermatozoa (Artificial Insemination Service, Beit Dagan, Israel) were washed and suspended in modified Ringer, pH 7·3, to