Biophysical Journal 65: 1445-1448 (1993)
© 1993 the Biophysical Society

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Calcium ion regulation of chirality of beating flagellum of reactivated sea urchin spermatozoa.

Biological Laboratory, Faculty of Science, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan.

ABSTRACT

Near an interface, sea urchin spermatozoa swim almost in circles. The direction is usually clockwise at the lower surface of a coverslip and counterclockwise at the upper surface of a glass slide, when viewed from above. Examination of demembranated spermatozoa has shown that Ca2+ regulates the direction of the circular motion of spermatozoa reactivated with adenosine triphosphate (ATP). This finding suggests that Ca2+ changes the chirality of the three-dimensional bending waves of sperm flagella.

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