Enrichment of acrosomal membranes in cavitation-released fractions from capacitated sperm.

Alkaline phosphatase as a specific plasma membrane indicator for the purity of membrane isolates and acrosin as a marker for the level of acrosome contamination. Peanut Agglutinin (PNA) was used as marker lectin for the outer acrosome membrane material in the 285000 g fraction of the membrane isolates.
aratio of the specific marker activities between UCF and whole sperm lysate.
bnmol • mg protein−1 • min−1.
cµIU: quantity of acrosin • µg protein−1 hydrolyzes 1 µmol BAPNA• min−1 at 22°C.
dNormalized OD450 • µg protein−1 • 109 cell-1.
• 1000 g fraction contains sperm head
• UCF: Ultra-centrifuge fraction recovered from 285000 g pellet contain membrane vesicles.
• e-f, g-h: significant different for 2-tailed tests between IVF incubations (actual p values for tests between e-f and g-h are both <0.01).
• n≥5, ±s.d.