Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Vol.284, No.2, 531-535, 2001
Time-resolved sperm responses to an egg peptide measured by stopped-flow fluorometry
Speract, a decapeptide from sea urchin egg jelly, induces various sperm responses. Stopped-flow fluorometry was used to examine the binding of labeled speract and the intracellular changes in pH (pH(i)) and Ca2+ ([Ca2+](i)) it induces in sperm. We observed significant time delays for the increase in pH(i), and [Ca2+](i) induced by 200 nM speract (69 and 190 ms, respectively). Also, we found that the receptor undergoes a pH(i)-dependent affinity change at around 129 ms. These time delays probably reflect biochemical processes underlying each sperm response to speract that circumscribe the time sequence of the signaling events.
Keywords:egg peptide;sperm activation;stopped-flow;ligand-receptor interaction;fluorescence quenching;intracellular pH;intracellular Ca2+;chemotaxis