Cholesterol efflux from the boar sperm for a novel relaxin-like protein and its action on their capacitation

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This research project was planned to elucidate the physiological role of relaxin-like protein (RLP) during sperm capacitation in boars. In detail, I will 1) determine whether RLP stimulates cholesterol efflux from the plasma membrane of boar sperm during capacitation, 2) identify the sites of cholesterol release on boar spermbinding sites on boar sperm for relaxin-like protein, and 3) RLP potentiates sperm capacitating. The outcome of this research is as follows.1. Induction of sperm capacitation : RLP induced sperm capacitation and acrosome reaction in a dose-dependent manner, with maximum effect when 150μg/ml (11μM) RLP was added.2. Stimulation of cholesterol efflux : RLP stimulated cholesterol efflux from the plasma membrane on lboar sperm labeled with [^3H] cholesterol.3. Identification of the site(s) of cholesterol efflux : RLP stimulated cholesterol efflux from the acrosomal region of boar sperm, as revealed by the filipin-cholesterol staining.4. Possible physiological roles on boar sperm : RLP promotes capacitation by facilitating cholesterol efflux from the sperm plasma membrane covering the acrosomal region, suggesting that RLP is the most important factor in boar seminal plasma responsible for stimulation of sperm capacitation.