ISSN: 2161-0932
Daulat RP Tulsiani
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine,
Nashville, Tennessee, 37232
Tanzania
Editorial
Mechanisms of Mammalian Sperm-Egg Interaction Leading to Fertilization
Author(s): Daulat RP Tulsiani
Daulat RP Tulsiani
Mammalian fertilization, a species-specific event, is the net result of a highly orchestrated process that collectively results in the fusion of two radically different-looking haploid cells, sperm and egg, to form a diploid zygote, a cell with somatic chromosome numbers. Prior to the interaction of the opposite gametes, mammalian spermatozoa undergo many fascinating changes during development in the testis, maturation in the epididymis, and capacitation in the female genital tract. Only the capacitated spermatozoa interact with the extracellular coat, the zona pellucida, which surrounds the mammalian oocyte. The tight and irreversible binding of the opposite gametes in the mouse and many other mammals studied, including human, starts a ca2+- dependent signal transduction pathway that results in the exocytosis of acrosomal contents at the site of the sperm binding. The hydrolytic acti.. View More»
DOI:
10.4172/2161-0932.1000e107