Overview
- Provides a broad perspective on understanding the molecular mechanisms governing the fertilization process
- Covers the formation of the acrosome during spermatogenesis
- Reviews the site of acrosomal exocytosis and provides information on the use of gene-manipulated animals used to study this process
Part of the book series: Advances in Anatomy, Embryology and Cell Biology (ADVSANAT, volume 220)
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Table of contents (9 chapters)
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Front Matter
Keywords
About this book
Over the last decades, acrosomal exocytosis (also called the “acrosome reaction”) has been recognized as playing an essential role in fertilization. Secretion of this granule is an absolute requirement for physiological fertilization. In recent years, the study of mammalian acrosomal exocytosis has yielded some major advances that challenge the long-held, general paradigms in the field. Principally, the idea that sperm must be acrosome-intact to bind to the zona pellucida of unfertilized eggs, based largely on in vitro fertilization studies of mouse oocytes denuded of the cumulus oophorus, has been overturned by experiments using state-of-the-art imaging of cumulus-intact oocytes and fertilization experiments where eggs were reinseminated by acrosome-reacted sperm recovered from the perivitelline space of zygotes. From a molecular point of view, acrosome exocytosis is a synchronized and tightly regulated process mediated by molecular mechanisms that are homologous to those reportedin neuroendocrinal cell secretions. The authors provide a broader perspective, focusing on a limited number of important topics that are essential for understanding the molecular mechanisms governing this step in the fertilization process. They also discuss molecular aspects such as the signaling pathways leading to exocytosis, including the participation of ion channels, lipids, the fusion machinery proteins and the actin cytoskeleton as well as cellular aspects such as the site of acrosomal exocytosis and the use of gene-manipulated animals to study this process.
Editors and Affiliations
About the editor
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Sperm Acrosome Biogenesis and Function During Fertilization
Editors: Mariano G. Buffone
Series Title: Advances in Anatomy, Embryology and Cell Biology
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30567-7
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Medicine, Medicine (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2016
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-30565-3Published: 27 May 2016
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-30567-7Published: 19 May 2016
Series ISSN: 0301-5556
Series E-ISSN: 2192-7065
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: VII, 172
Number of Illustrations: 3 b/w illustrations, 16 illustrations in colour
Topics: Human Physiology, Molecular Medicine, Reproductive Medicine, Urology
Industry Sectors: Biotechnology, Consumer Packaged Goods, Health & Hospitals, Pharma