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Localized gating of egg Na+ channels by sperm

Nature volume 291, pages 254–256 (1981)Cite this article

Abstract

Eggs of many species respond to sperm with a positive shift in membrane potential, the fertilization potential1, which in several2–5 but not all6 species mediates a block to polyspermy. How the sperm elicits the fertilization potential is not known, although it is the earliest known response of eggs to sperm, occurring within 1–2 s of mixing the gametes. In the marine worm, Urechis caupo, the fertilization potential results from an increase in Na+ permeability which is amplified during the first 15 s by a voltage-gated Ca2+ action potential7. The Na+ channels are gated not by voltage, but by sperm, a sperm opening only a fraction of available channels7. The experiments reported here indicate that the open Na+ channels are localized in a ‘patch’ near the fertilizing sperm.

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  1. Department of Biology, B-022, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, 92093, USA

    Meredith Gould-Somero

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  1. Meredith Gould-Somero
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Gould-Somero, M. Localized gating of egg Na+ channels by sperm. Nature 291, 254–256 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1038/291254a0

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