Geometry-Specific Heterogeneity of the Apparent Diffusion Rate of Materials Inside Sperm Cells

Abstract

In sea urchin spermatozoa, the energy source powering flagellar motion is provided as ATP produced by mitochondria located at the proximal ends of flagella. However, the bottleneck structure between the sperm head and the flagellar tail seems to restrict the free entry of ATP from mitochondria into the tail region. To test this possibility, we investigated the diffusion properties in sperm cells using fluorescence recovery after photobleaching. We found that the rate of fluorescence recovery in the head region was ∼10% of that observed in the flagellar tail regions. We also found that, even within the tail region, rates varied depending on location, i.e., rates were slower at the more distal regions. Using computational analysis, the rate heterogeneity was shown to be caused mainly by the geometry of the sperm structure, even if little or no difference in diffusion rates through the neck region was assumed. Therefore, we concluded that materials such as ATP would generally diffuse freely between the heads and the flagella of sperm cells. We believe these findings regarding the diffusion properties inside spermatozoa provide further insights into material transportation and chemical signaling inside eukaryotic cilia and flagella.