Mathematical model reveals that heterogeneity in the number of ion transporters regulates the fraction of mouse sperm capacitation
Por:
Aguado-Garcia, Alejandro, Priego-Espinosa, Daniel A., Aldana, Andres, Darszon, Alberto, Martinez-Mekler, Gustavo
Publicada:
1 ene 2021
Categoría:
Multidisciplinary
Resumen:
Capacitation is a complex maturation process mammalian sperm must undergo in the female genital tract to be able to fertilize an egg. This process involves, amongst others, physiological changes in flagellar beating pattern, membrane potential, intracellular ion concentrations and protein phosphorylation. Typically, in a capacitation medium, only a fraction of sperm achieve this state. The cause for this heterogeneous response is still not well understood and remains an open question. Here, one of our principal results is to develop a discrete regulatory network, with mostly deterministic dynamics in conjunction with some stochastic elements, for the main biochemical and biophysical processes involved in the early events of capacitation. The model criterion for capacitation requires the convergence of specific levels of a select set of nodes. Besides reproducing several experimental results and providing some insight on the network interrelations, the main contribution of the model is the suggestion that the degree of variability in the total amount and individual number of ion transporters among spermatozoa regulates the fraction of capacitated spermatozoa. This conclusion is consistent with recently reported experimental results. Based on this mathematical analysis, experimental clues are proposed for the control of capacitation levels. Furthermore, cooperative and interference traits that become apparent in the modelling among some components also call for future theoretical and experimental studies. © 2021 Public Library of Science. All rights reserved.
Filiaciones:
Aguado-Garcia, Alejandro:
Instituto de Ciencias Básicas y Aplicadas, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Cuernavaca, Mexico
Instituto de Ciencias Físicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Mexico
Priego-Espinosa, Daniel A.:
Instituto de Ciencias Físicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Mexico
Aldana, Andres:
Instituto de Biotecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Mexico
Centro de Ciencias de la Complejidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, CDMX, Mexico
Darszon, Alberto:
Instituto de Biotecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Mexico
Martinez-Mekler, Gustavo:
Instituto de Ciencias Físicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Mexico
Centro de Ciencias de la Complejidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, CDMX, Mexico
gold, Green Submitted, Green Published, Gold, Green
|