Size-uniform heparin fragments as nuclear decondensation and acrosome reaction inducers in human spermatozoa

Nucleons, I: A Model for Studying the Mechanism of Sperm Nucleus Swelling in Vitro

“…Under physiological conditions GAGs induce capacitation [32,34,55], and acrosome reaction [15,43] binds to specific sperm plasmatic membrane receptors [41,48], provoking a membrane destabilization effect [1,16,17] that allows negatively charged compounds to be internalized by an unknown mechanism and exert their physiological role, inducing the release of basic nucleoprotein [44] and nuclear swelling.…”

Hyaluronic Acid and Chemoattractant Substance From Follicular Fluid: In Vitro Effect of Human Sperm Migration

“…For example, heparin has been found in the follicular fluid [23] and its effect on chemotaction of spermatozoa has been described [18,19]; the same observations have also been described for progesterone [22]. Simultaneously, progesterone [13] and heparin [3,17] stimulated spermatozoa acrosome reaction and motility, and the effects were very important to their chemotactic behavior.…”

Presence and Release of Bovine Sperm Histone H1 During Chromatin Decondensation by Heparin-Glutathione

“…They are present in both male and female reproductive tracts, in reproductive secretions, and in both gametes [Reyes et al 2004;Binette et al 1996;Boushehri et al 1996;Sloan et al 1996]. Under physiological conditions, GAGs bind to specific receptors in the sperm plasma membrane [Peluso et al 1992;Sánchez-Prieto et al 1996], induce capacitation [Medeiros and Parrish 1996;Miller et al 1990;Reyes et al 1989] and the acrosome reaction Delgado et al 1988]. Moreover, they induce the release of basic nucleoproteins [Reyes et al 1991] and facilitate nuclear swelling [Delgado et al 1999, Romanato et al 2003, 2005.…”