Fusion of Boar Sperm with Nanoliposomes Prepared from Synthetic Phospholipids

Abstract

Liposomes are artificial membrane vesicles that can be used to test and model the functions and interactions of various biological membranes, or as a carrier system to deliver biologically active substances into the cells, or to incorporate lipids into the plasma membrane of target cells to modify membrane structure-function relationships. Sperm plasma membrane undergoes lipid modification during maturation in epididymis and during capacitation in the female reproductive tract to facilitate fertilization. Natural variation in the amounts and composition of lipids in the sperm plasma membrane may also contribute to the species-specific sperm sensitivities to handling and storage conditions. Boar sperm are notoriously susceptible to membrane damage and are resistant to compositional alteration by artificial liposomes. This study used flow cytometry to demonstrate stable incorporation of nanoliposomes prepared from a complex mixture of various phospholipids (phosphatidylcholine : phosphatidylethanolamine : sphingomyelin : phosphatidylserine : phosphatidylinositol) with high fusion efficiency. Over 90% of sperm rapidly took up fluorescently labelled liposomes and retained the lipids for at least 60 min, in a significant time- and concentration-dependent manner. This unique fusion efficacy could be used to alter sperm plasma membrane composition and hence membrane-based functional responses.

Incubation of human sperm with micelles made from glycerophospholipid mixtures increases sperm motility and resistance to oxidative stress

“…Lipids from different SM are subject to exchange and renewal by various mechanisms, such as endocytosis, exocytosis, contacts between different membranes and non-membrane lipid vesicles and by non-vesicular lipid carrier trafficking [ 15 , 16 ]. For example, the compositions of lipids in the SM have been shown to be susceptible to compositional changes by the incorporation/fusion of nanoliposomes [ 17 ].…”

In Vitro Effects of Charged and Zwitterionic Liposomes on Human Spermatozoa and Supplementation with Liposomes and Chlorogenic Acid during Sperm Freezing

“…Garrett et al [ 28 ], using liposomes loaded with membrane-impermeable agents, reported that these vesicles interact with spermatozoa; in addition, when loaded with messengers, such as calcium ions, the liposomes were proposed as a useful tool for investigating the cell signaling linked to sperm activation. Many other literature papers have reported interactions between loaded liposomes and spermatozoa, which have simply analyzed the effect of the loaded compound [ 12 , 13 , 29 ].…”

The dynamic metabolomic changes throughout mouse epididymal lumen fluid potentially contribute to sperm maturation

“…The tyrosine metabolism pathway have been suggested to play important roles in sperm capacitation, epididymal duct contractility and sperm quality (Cavariani et al ., ). The glycerophospholipid metabolism pathway may be important for maturation of sperm membrane and maintenance of membrane integrity of epididymal epithelial cells (Turner, ; Kasimanickam & Buhr, ).…”