INHIBITION OF RESPIRATION IN SEA URCHIN SPERMATOZOA FOLLOWING INTERACTION WITH FIXED UNFERTILIZED EGGS.. I. CHANGE IN THE RESPIRATORY RATE OF SPERMATOZOA IN THE PRESENCE OF FIXED EGGS*

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The respiratory rate of spermatozoa of the sea urchins, Anthocidaris crassispina, Clypeaster japonicus and Pseudocentrotus depressus, decreases markedly in the presence of homologous unfertilized eggs fixed with glutaraldhyde. No decrease in the rate of respiration occurs in the presence of fixed fertilized eggs. Fixed unfertilized eggs of different sea urchin species cause no change in the rate of sperm respiration. Spermatozoa adhere only to the fixed unfertilized eggs of the same species and are removed by stirring for 5 min on a magnetic stirrer. The spermatozoa thus removed are immotile and their respiratory rate is much lower than that of motile spermatozoa in a control suspension stirred for 5 min. Intact spermatozoa adhere to the fixed eggs, from which the attached spermatozoa were removed, and the respiratory rate of the spermatozoa also becomes low.