Capacities of oxidative metabolism in digitonin-treated bovine epididymal spermatozoa

Treatment of bull spermatozoa from epididymal cauda with 5 micrograms digitonin per microliter cells removed the permeability barrier of plasma membrane for mitochondrial substrates and effectors. Such preparations yielded a high portion of coupled mitochondria characterized by ratios of active respiration to carboxyatractyloside-inhibited respiration greater than 13 in the presence of efficient substrates. Bull sperm mitochondria oxidized pyruvate and lactate in the presence of malate as well as glycerol-3-phosphate with much higher rates than succinate or palmitoyl carnitine. For the efficient substrates the respiration coupled to ADP phosphorylation amounted to 77 to 100% of the uncoupled rate. Comparable rates of active respiration were also observed with ATP indicating the high ATPase activity present in digitonin-treated spermatozoa. Uncoupled rates of respiration corresponded to rates of intact spermatozoa, but the capacity of the phosphorylating respiration exceeded the respiration rates of intact motile spermatozoa remarkably. This indicates that the spermatozoal ATP turnover at sufficient supply of substrate is mostly controlled by ATP utilizing reactions.