抄録
Capacitation is one of important event in mammalian sperm. Although ejaculated sperm can not fertile to egg, capacitated sperm can fertile. Generally, capacitated sperm show acrosomal reaction and hyperactivation. Acrosomal reaction occurs at sperm head during capacitation. On the other hand, hyperactivation occurs at sperm flagellum after acrosomal reaction. From many studies, it is accepted that those reaction related to capacitation are regulated with protein modification, such as phosphorylation, fragmentation and etc... So, we examined protein modification associated with sperm capacitation using SELDI protein chip system® in the present study. SELDI protein chip system® is new technology to analyze proteins and consists of protein chip and time of flight mass spectrometry (TOF MS).Using ion exchange chips such as weak anion exchange chip (CM) and strong cation exchange chip (Q), we detected protein fragmentation during capacitation. In several experiments, we found many fragments of sperm proteins. Those fragments time dependently appeared during capacitation. Moreover, we detected phosphorylation during capacitation using immobilized metal affinity capture (IMAC) gallium (III) and iron (III). From the experiment, we found many phosphorylations and dephosphorylations of sperm proteins. Those proteins were time dependently phosphorylated or dephosphorylated during capacitation. [Jpn J Physiol 55 Suppl:S69 (2005)]
