BIOL30001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Carnitine, Hyperactivation, Hyaluronidase
17 Aug 2018
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Why? remaining dna from meiosis is contained within polar body on cell surface. Spermatogenesis in testis sperm entering the vasa are incapable of movement. Epididymis addition of carnitine, fructose (sperm are made to metabolise fructose) and glycoproteins which coat the sperm journey through the epididymis takes. 5-11 days (species dependent) sperm are said to mature in the epididymis gain motility. Male tract: smooth muscle in walls of seminal vesicle and prostate contract seminal uid, cauda epididymis and vas deferens contractions, sperm transferred to vagina via penile urethra. Note: at vagina, sperm count ~500 million, at uterus ~5000. Extremes: sperm > 10 years in species with sperm storage, sperm < 1 minute in some species with external fertilisation. Capacitation: stripping of much of the glycoprotein coat on the sperm that was acquired during passage along the epididymis, sperm exhibit a change in the surface membrane properties, this prepares sperm to undergo acrosome reaction.
