Intracellular changes in Ca2+, K+ and pH after sperm motility activation in the European eel (Anguilla anguilla): Preliminary results

• Published in: Aquaculture
• Main Authors: Gallego Albiach, Victor, Martínez Pastor, Felipe, Mazzeo, Ilaria, Peñaranda, D.S., Herraez, Paz, Asturiano Nemesio, Juan Francisco, Pérez Igualada, Luz María
• Other Authors: Universitat Politècnica de València. Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología Animal - Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Animal, Universitat Politècnica de València. Departamento de Ciencia Animal - Departament de Ciència Animal, European Commission, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Universitat Politècnica de València, Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2014
• Subjects: Sperm motility; Ion flux; Calcium; Potassium; PH; Flow cytometry; BIOLOGIA ANIMAL; PRODUCCION ANIMAL; Anguilla anguilla; European eel
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10251/64672; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2013.10.022

[EN] Although it is widely accepted that osmolality and ion fluxes are the main factors triggering sperm motility in fish, a complex universal mechanism for sperm motility activation does not exist in fish, and studies of marine fish species are even more scarce. Therefore, the main goal of this study was to estimate the intracellular variations in the main ions involved in sperm activation for the first time in European eel, in order to provide additional new data about this little-known process. It was observed that levels of intracellular Ca2+ and K+ sperm ions increased significantly 30 s after the hyperosmotic shock compared to baseline levels, and remained at this level until 120 s post-activation. In contrast, the intracellular pH remained constant during the first 30 s, and decreased gradually at 60 and 120 s post-activation. Our data agree with the current main theory for explaining motility activation in marine fish, in which internal fluctuations of Ca2+ and K+ seem to participate in sperm activation. In addition, fluorescent images showed that both Ca2+ and K+ were concentrated in the apical area of the sperm head, which corresponds to the location of the eel sperm mitochondria, suggesting this organelle plays an important role in sperm motility activation. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Funded from the European Community's 7th Framework Programme under the Theme 2 "Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, and Biotechnology", grant agreement no 245257 (Pro-Eel) and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN; AGL2010-16009). Victor Gallego has a predoctoral grant (MICINN; BES-2009-020310) and has been granted a fellowship (EEBB-I-12-05858) of the Spanish Personnel Research Training Programme to carry out this study in the Universidad de Leon (Leon, Spain). Ilaria Mazzeo had a predoctoral grant from GVA. David S. Penaranda has a contract co-financed by MICINN and UPV (PTA2011-4948-I). F. Martinez-Pastor was supported by the Ramon y Cajal program (RYC-2008-02560, MICINN). Gallego ...