抄録
Offer Organization: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, System Name: Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B), Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B), Fund Type: -, Overall Grant Amount: - (direct: 6900000, indirect: -)
This study was performed as a step to elucidate the molecular mechanism by which the sperm induces an increase in intracellular Ca^<2+>, the pivotal signal for egg activation at fertilization. The following results were obtainde by microinjection techniques, Ca^<2+> image analysis, and confocal laser scanning microscopy.
1)As a phenomenological observation, we established the experimental condition in which sperm-egg fusion is formed only transiently without sperm entry into the sea urchin egg in the presence of a gamete fusion inhibitor, jaspisin. A localized Ca^<2+> rise restricted at the sperm binding site was recorded, separated fron the Ca^<2+> wave which spreads throughout the egg at normal fertilization. Spatiotemporal aspects of the sprem-induced localized Ca^<2+> rise were characterized in detail.
2) Injection of a mouse spermatozoon into an egg (intracytoplsmic sperm injection, ICSI) caused repetitive transient Ca^<2+> rises (Ca^<2+> oscillalions) as seen at fertilization, starting 15 to 30 minutes after sperm injection and persisting for several hours. Each Ca^<2+> rise occurred almost synchronously in the whole egg. The results suggested that a sperm cytosolic factor leaks out from the injected spermatozoon into the egg cytoplasm and can induce Ca^<2+> oscillations, even if sperm-egg binding is bypassed by ICSI.
3) We found that injection of a precursor sperm, round spermatids without flagellum (round spermatid injection, ROSI), can not induce any Ca^<2+> response in the egg but that combined injection of a potent agonist of the inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP_3) receptor resulted in egg activation (fertilization) associated with male and female pronucleus formation. About 25% of two-cell embryos transplanted into foster mothers developed to normal offspring. The newborn infants grew up to normal adults, which reproduced normal second generations.
4)We partially purified a cytosolic protein from hamster and ascidian spermatozoa that possesses the activity of inducing Ca^<2+> oscillations when injected into hamster, mouse, and ascidian eggs. Microinjection of the sperm factor into a localized region of the egg showed that the peripheral cytoplasm is more sensitive to the sperm factor to generate Ca^<2+> increase (possibly due to Ca^<2+> release from the endoplasmic reticulum through IP_3 receptors), compared with the central region of the egg.
These results suggested that, at fertilization, a sperm cytosolic factor could be introduced into the cortical region of the egg cytoplasm through cytoplasmic continuity formed between the sperm and egg, and induce Ca^<2+> release in the egg. This study provided useful information for advancing further studies in future.