The chlortetracycline fluorescence assay was used to study the status of capacitation and the extent of induced acrosome reactions in cauda epididymidal spermatozoa from fertile and infertile rats fed, respectively, with vehicle or ornidazole (400 mg kg-1 day-1) for 10 days. Uniform bright fluorescence over the whole head was classified as the uncapacitated pattern, whereas a postacrosomal dark band, and a uniformly weaker fluorescence over the acrosome, reflected patterns intermediate between the uncapacitated and acrosome-reacted states. Acrosome-reacted spermatozoa displayed a dark head but always retained fluorescence at their tip. There was no difference between experimental and control groups of rats with regard to the development of the chlortetracycline fluorescence patterns during incubation. Under basal incubation conditions, the acrosome reaction was slightly delayed in spermatozoa from ornidazole-treated animals. In contrast, more spermatozoa were acrosome reacted in this group after incubation for 5 h when the concentration of BSA was increased from 4 to 20 mg ml-1. The Ca(2+)-ionophore A23187 induced a similar stimulation of capacitation and acrosome reactions in spermatozoa from control and ornidazole-fed animals, but in the latter group A23187 caused strong immobilization of spermatozoa. In the capacitation medium containing 5 mmol lactate l-1 and 5 mmol glucose l-1, the straight-line velocity of spermatozoa from ornidazole-treated rats was reduced by 50% compared with controls, irrespective of the concentration of BSA. Two glycolytic enzymes, triose phosphate isomerase and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase, displayed reduced activity (48% and 68% of controls, respectively) in cauda epididymidal spermatozoa from ornidazole-fed rats, whereas the activities of hexokinase and lactate dehydrogenase remained unchanged. This finding suggests that the fertility-compromising action of ornidazole is due to a disturbed glycolytic pathway.