Identification of a sperm receptor-glycoprotein from the porcine zona pellucida

Porcine zona pellucida were solubilized by treatment with lithium 3,5-diiodosalicylate. Following further purification by phenol/water extraction, ethanol precipitation and high performance liquid chromatography a total of 11 fractions were obtained. Fractions in the molecular mass range, that were previously found to possess antigenic properties, were tested in a spermatozoa radio-receptor binding assay. One of the fractions with an N-terminal amino-acid residue of alanine was found to have spermatozoa receptor properties. This result might aid future studies on the spermatozoazona pellucida interactions at the molecular level.