Insulin-sperm interaction: effects on plasma membrane and binding to acrosome

In in vitro studies, viable, intact human spermatozoa took up free radioinsulin with an apparently non-receptor-mediated mechanism. However, when a colloidal gold-insulin complex was substituted for the radiotracer, no surface binding was visualized at the ultrastructural level. Upon sperm incubation in the presence of free insulin, a dose-dependent release of phospholipid phosphorus occurred, with a concomitant derangement of head cell membrane. After head membrane removal, spermatozoa-bound radioinsulin in a time- and concentration-dependent manner, the binding was displaceable by unlabeled insulin, and an exclusive localization of the colloidal gold-insulin complex was visualized at the acrosome level. On the basis of this evidence, both the plasma membrane and the acrosome seem to represent cytological targets for insulin.