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Updated: Jul 8, 2025
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Using an Extracellular Flux Analyzer to Measure Changes in Glycolysis and Oxidative Phosphorylation during Mouse Sperm Capacitation
Published on: January 22, 2020
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Pyruvate modulation of redox potential controls mouse sperm motility
Cameron A Schmidt1, Benjamin J Hale2, Debajit Bhowmick3
1Department of Biology at East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858, USA; East Carolina Diabetes and Obesity Institute at East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27834, USA.
Developmental Cell
|December 15, 2023
Summary
Sperm motility and fertilization competence are regulated by microenvironmental pyruvate, which activates glycolysis instead of being used as fuel. This finding offers new strategies for optimizing sperm selection in assisted reproduction.
Area of Science:
- Reproductive Biology
- Sperm Metabolism
- Bioenergetics
Background:
- Sperm acquire fertilization competence via biochemical changes and motility shifts in the female reproductive tract.
- Regulation of sperm energy metabolism, crucial for fertilization, remains poorly understood.
- This knowledge gap hinders understanding of interspecies variation and optimizing sperm for assisted reproduction.
Purpose of the Study:
- To elucidate the mechanism regulating sperm motility and energy transduction.
- To investigate the role of microenvironmental factors, specifically pyruvate, in sperm bioenergetics.
- To establish a model for mouse sperm bioenergetics.
Main Methods:
- Metabolic phenotyping
- Quantitative microscopy
- Spectral flow cytometry
- Development of a mouse sperm bioenergetics model.
Main Results:
- Pyruvate regulates sperm motility by repressing lactate oxidation and activating flagellar glycolysis.
- Pyruvate provides nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)+, crucial for this metabolic switch.
- Sperm do not consume pyruvate as a primary mitochondrial fuel source for motility.
Conclusions:
- Sperm motility transitions essential for fertilization competence are controlled by the metabolic microenvironment.
- Microenvironmental pyruvate plays a key role in regulating sperm hyperactivation.
- Targeting sperm catabolite combinations presents a novel approach for optimizing sperm selection for fertilization.
