SPACA1-deficient male mice are infertile with abnormally shaped sperm heads reminiscent of globozoospermia.

Yoshitaka Fujihara, Yuhkoh Satouh, Naokazu Inoue, Ayako Isotani, Masahito Ikawa, Masaru Okabe

Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University, 3-1 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan.

Development (Cambridge, England) 2012 Oct

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SPACA1 is a membrane protein that localizes in the equatorial segment of spermatozoa in mammals and is reported to function in sperm-egg fusion. We produced a Spaca1 gene-disrupted mouse line and found that the male mice were infertile. The cause of this sterility was abnormal shaping of the sperm head reminiscent of globozoospermia in humans. Disruption of Spaca1 led to the disappearance of the nuclear plate, a dense lining of the nuclear envelope facing the inner acrosomal membrane. This coincided with the failure of acrosomal expansion during spermiogenesis and resulted in the degeneration and disappearance of the acrosome in mature spermatozoa. Thus, these findings clarify part of the cascade leading to globozoospermia.

Citation

Yoshitaka Fujihara, Yuhkoh Satouh, Naokazu Inoue, Ayako Isotani, Masahito Ikawa, Masaru Okabe. SPACA1-deficient male mice are infertile with abnormally shaped sperm heads reminiscent of globozoospermia. Development (Cambridge, England). 2012 Oct;139(19):3583-9