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(Referência obtida automaticamente do Web of Science, por meio da informação sobre o financiamento pela FAPESP e o número do processo correspondente, incluída na publicação pelos autores.)

Potassium Current in Mature Bovine Spermatozoa

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Autor(es):
Marconi, Marcelo [1, 2] ; Sanchez, Raul [1] ; Ulrich, Henning [3] ; Romero, Fernando [1]
Número total de Autores: 4
Afiliação do(s) autor(es):
[1] Univ La Frontera, Fac Med, Dept Preclin Sci, Neurosci Lab, Ctr Reprod Biotechnol, Temuco - Chile
[2] Inst Anat & Zellbiol, Giessen - Germany
[3] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Quim, Dept Bioquim, BR-05508900 Sao Paulo - Brazil
Número total de Afiliações: 3
Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
Fonte: SYSTEMS BIOLOGY IN REPRODUCTIVE MEDICINE; v. 54, n. 6, p. 231-239, 2008.
Citações Web of Science: 5
Resumo

Ion channels have been assigned a pivotal importance in various sperm functions and are therefore promising targets for contraceptive development. The lack of data on channel functionality and pharmacology has hampered this goal. This is a consequence of technical problems of applying electrophysiological techniques to spermatozoa due to their small size and form. By using a laminin coating to increase adherence of spermatozoa and nystatin in the patch pipette for pore formation, we have adapted the whole-cell recording technique to study currents in mature uncapacitated bovine spermatozoa. Employing these conditions, in the head region, patched spermatozoa could be transferred into the whole-cell configuration. For the first time we document an outward rectifying current in mature bovine spermatozoa was blocked by tetraethyl ammonium (TEA) chloride. The observation of a shift in the reversal potential as a response to changes in the extracellular concentration of K+ ions allowed us to identify this current as K+ selective. This result shows that K+ channels in the head region of mature uncapacitated bovine spermatozoa can be suitably investigated using the whole-cell recording patch-clamp technique. (AU)

Processo FAPESP: 06/61285-9 - Bases moleculares da diferenciação de células-tronco e progenitoras neurais
Beneficiário:Alexander Henning Ulrich
Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Temático