On the Species Specificity of Sperm Binding and Sperm Penetration of the Zona Pellucida

Abstract

Sperm binding and sperm penetration of the zona pellucida (zp) are regarded as species-specific. In this investigation, the interactions between bovine oocytes and porcine, respectively, equine spermatozoa have been studied under in vitro conditions and compared with the normal in vitro fertilization of bovine oocytes by bovine sperm. Surprisingly, many of the heterologous spermatozoa adhered firmly to the bovine oocytes and could not be removed by intense washing. On average, more than 100 boar or equine spermatozoa were bound to the zp of bovine oocytes. Electron microscopic studies clearly demonstrated that porcine sperm attached to the zona and underwent the acrosome reaction. Equine spermatozoa displayed a similar binding affinity, but unlike the porcine spermatozoa even penetrated the zp and were taken up into the oocyte after a longer period of co-incubation. Considering these new results the dogma of a strict species specificity of sperm zona interactions under in vitro conditions has to be reconsidered.

Effect of calcium, bicarbonate, and albumin on capacitation-related events in equine sperm

“…Albumin causes equine sperm to become 'sticky', as presence of BSA is associated with sperm agglutination (Bromfield et al 2014), and thus, the increase in zona binding may be non-specific. However, equine sperm-bovine ZP binding can be functional, as acrosome reaction and penetration through bovine ZP have been shown to take place (Sinowatz et al 2003). In our experiments, we observed an individual variability among stallions in the number of sperm attached to bovine ZP, as described previously (Balao da Silva et al 2013).…”

Heterologous murine and bovine IVF using bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) spermatozoa

“…This result agrees the only study that described heterologous IVF using cryopreserved dolphin spermatozoa, in which maximum attachment and binding were achieved at 2 h of co-incubation with zona-free hamster oocytes [9]. Similar times are used in co-incubation studies of other species [46][47][48][49].…”

Cholestanol-loaded-cyclodextrin improves the quality of stallion spermatozoa after cryopreservation

“…The zona pellucida binding assay confirmed that stallion spermatozoa can bind to the zona pellucida of bovine oocytes , indicating that the bovine zona pellucida possesses sperm receptors that can bind both bovine and equine sperm (Sinowatz et al, 2003;Moore et al, 2005). A successful interaction between spermatozoa and the ZP is critical for fertilization, including the acquisition and completion of capacitation, recognition and binding to specific ZP receptors, and induction of physiological acrosome reaction (Oechninger, 2003).…”