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Commentary
Cellscience Reviews Vol 3 No 3
ISSN 1742-8130 |
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cGMP and Chemotaxis in Sperm
King-Wai Yau
Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience,
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205
Received 20th January © Cellscience 2007
Understanding the chemotaxis of sperm, apart from being a great biological signaling problem, has the potential of leading to new contraceptive methods or therapeutics in infertility. The sperms of marine invertebrates such as sea urchins show high sensitivity to egg-released peptides in their swimming and have long been a favorite preparation for study (Garbers, 1989). The peptides bind and activate transmembrane guanylate cyclases/receptors and trigger cellular signaling through cGMP. For example, the peptide speract elevates cGMP which apparently then activates a K channel (Cook & Babcock, 1993a). At the same time, speract also seems to elevate cAMP which may open Ca channels downstream (Cook & Babcock, 1993b). The differential signaling may depend on internal pH (Cook & Babcock, 1993b).
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