Sperm motility modulated by Trpv1 regulates zebrafish fertilization

Abstract

By responding to environmental and intracellular stimuli, ion channels play critical roles in sperm function regulation. Although the importance of ion channel in male reproduction has drawn increasing attention in many species, the knowledge about ion channels in zebrafish sperm is limited. Here, we show zebrafish sperm motility could be suppressed by general calcium channel blockers rather than by general potassium channel blockers. Further investigation found that sperm motility was not only suppressed by antagonist for the transient receptor potential vanilloid channel, subtype 1 (Trpv1), but also restored by its agonist, suggesting functional presence of Trpv1 in zebrafish spermatozoa. As a consequence, the suppression of sperm motility by Trpv1 antagonist could reduce in vitro fertilization rate. Western blot and immunofluorescence analysis proved that Trpv1 was mainly distributed in the neck and tail regions of zebrafish sperm. Additionally, neither antagonist nor agonist of Trpv1 exhibited effect on the motility of trpv1−/− zebrafish sperm. To our knowledge, this is one of the limited studies showing the importance of ion channels in regulating zebrafish sperm function, and may enrich our understanding on male reproductive physiology of zebrafish and offer novel regulatory target for fish breeding and sperm cryopreservation.