Home > Browse Issues > Vol.27 No.6
Function of Sperm Membrane Ligand-gated Ion Channels in Sperm Acrosome Reaction
Hai-Xiong Liu, Yuan-Chang Yan, Yi-Ping Li*
Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology , Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences,
Abstract: Ligand-gated ion channels are membrane-spanning ion channels gated by neurotransmitters. Researches found out they play an important role in sperm acrosome reaction (AR)， a fundamental step needed for mammalian fertilization. So far， three kinds of ligand-gated ion channels were detected in sperm head membrane， they are ACh receptor， glycine receptor， and GABAa receptor. Though ACh receptor and glycine receptor are clearly involved in Zona pellucida 3 (ZP3)-induced AR， the function of GABAa receptor are much more complicate. This review means to elucidate the different mechanisms of those receptors in changing of sperm membrane potential， and provide a partial view of sperm AR signal transduction passway.
CN
EN