Abstract
A study of energy-linked calcium (Ca++) uptake by rabbit sperm mitochondria is reported. The respiration rate of hypotonically treated rabbit epididymal spermatozoa with succinate in the presence of oligomycin and rotenone was increased by 50% upon addition of Ca++ and an additional 30% by the introduction of KPi. Compared with mitochondria from other tissues, the uptake with sperm mitochondria is quite inefficient, evidenced by a Ca++ ratio of .3 compared with values of 1.7 to 2.0 with liver mitochondria. This is probably due to an ineffeciency in the Ca++ carrier, during maturation of the spermatozoa, to utilize high energy intermediates generated by substrate oxidation. The uptake of Ca++ was not inhibited by La+++ nor by concentrations of ruthenium red which prevent Ca++ uptake in other mitochondria. The Ca++ uptake reaction is known to be genetically determined in all mammalian mitochondria such that modifications in the Ca++ carrier provide a specific biochemical correlate for the study of alterations in rabbit spermatozoa mitochondria.
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