Induction of the acrosome reaction in guinea pig spermatozoa by cGMP analogues

Abstract

The effect of cyclic nucleotide analogues upon the immediate induction of the guinea pig acrosome reaction (AR) was studied. Dibutyryl (dB) cGMP and 8-bromo-cGMP, when added to sperm suspensions after varying periods of preincubation in glucose-free BWW medium (NaCl 94.59 mM, KCl 4.7 mM, CaCl2 1.71 mM, KH2PO4 1.19 MM, MgSO4 1.19 mM, NaHCO3 25.07 mM, pyruvate 0.25 mM, lactate 21.58 mM, and bovine serum albumen 1 g/liter), induced the AR in a large proportion of spermatozoa relative to controls. The proportion of ARs induced upon the addition of dB cGMP or 8-bromo-cGMP (10 mM) at 1 h was equivalent to that obtained after a 5-h incubation in glucose-free BWW alone. The effect of cGMP analogues was concentration dependent over the tested range of 2-12 mM (<1-20%). The simultaneous addition of imidazole (10 mM), a cAMP phosphodiesterase stimulator, potentiated the effect (imidazole + 12 mM 8-bromo-cGMP: 73%). cAMP analogues were without effect. The presence of extracellular Ca++ was required, and it is suggested that a rise in the cGMP/cAMP ratio triggers Ca++ influx and the AR. © 1980, Rockefeller University Press., All rights reserved.