Detection of glycine receptor/Cl- channel beta subunit transcripts in mouse testis

The sperm glycine receptor/Cl- channel (GlyR) is important to the initiation of the mammalian sperm acrosome reaction by the egg zona pellucida, but its presence in spermatogenic cells has not been demonstrated. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction studies confirmed that GlyR beta subunit transcripts similar to those of the neuronal GlyR beta subunit are present in the testis of Swiss Webster mice. In situ hybridisation analysis demonstrated that GlyR beta subunit mRNAs were expressed within the germ cells of seminiferous tubules in those mice.