SPERM CAPACITATION AND HYPERACTIVATION

过度激活是指在运动模式上的一种戏剧性的变化， 人类和其他哺乳动物的精子，在受精前产生 在女性生殖道或体外。 它被认为 帮助精子到达受精部位， 穿透卵的外壁 这一长期目标 项目是研究功能和控制机制， 超活化并确定其与精子的关系 获能 在这一点上，具体目标是检查1） 精子是如何通过女性生殖系统 道，通过跟踪单个小鼠精子的运动， 切除的纤维束; 2）过度激活的优势，通过比较 超活化前和超活化精子制造 通过模拟物理环境的人工环境 女性生殖道的各个方面; 3）细胞内 钙水平过度激活的运动，通过使用荧光 钙螯合剂Fura-2与计算机视频结合 荧光和鞭毛弯曲模式的分析; 4） 精子头部的钙变化之间的关系， 在获能和超活化过程中，同样使用Fura-2。 的 小鼠将被用作第一个目标的动物模型， 通过子宫壁和输卵管壁可以观察到精子; 老鼠和仓鼠的精子将用于第二个目的， 它们的运动模式包括观察到的范围， 哺乳动物精子;仓鼠精子将用于最后两个 因为它们足够大，可以进行视觉确认， Fura-2的顶体状态和图像分析 荧光。 从这些研究中获得的信息可以 用于治疗不孕症以及开发新的方法， 在受精前避孕。

Hyperactivation is a dramatic change in the motility pattern of human and other mammalian sperm that occurs prior to fertilization in the female reproductive tract or in vitro. It is thought to assist the sperm in reaching the site of fertilization and penetrating the vestments of the egg. The long term goals of this project are to study the functions and control mechanisms for hyperactivation and to determine its relationship to sperm capacitation. At this point, the specific aims are to examine 1) how hyperactivation moves sperm through the female reproductive tract, by following the movement of individual mouse sperm through excised tracts; 2) the advantages of hyperactivation, by comparing the abilities of prehyperactivated and hyperactivated sperm to make progress through artificial environments that simulate physical aspects of the female tract; 3) the relationship of intracellular calcium levels to hyperactivated motility, by using the fluorescent calcium chelator Fura-2 in conjunction with computerized video analysis of fluorescence and flagellar bending patterns; 4) the relationship between calcium changes in the sperm head, which occur during capacitation, and hyperactivation, again using Fura-2. The mouse will be used as an animal model for the first aim because sperm may be observed through the walls of its uterus and oviduct; mouse and hamster sperm will be used for the second aim because their motility patterns encompass the range observed among mammalian sperm; and hamster sperm will be used for the last two aims because they are large enough to enable visual ascertainment of the state of the acrosome and image analysis of Fura-2 fluorescence. The information learned from these studies can be used to treat infertility as well as to develop new methods of contraception that work prior to fertilization.