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Research Article

ScienceAsia 22 (1996): 021-030 |doi: 10.2306/scienceasia1513-1874.1996.22.021

INTERACTION BETWEEN JACKFRUIT LECTIN AND RAT EPIDIDYMAL SPERM

PORNTIP PRAPUNPOJa AND MONTRI CHULAVATNATOLb

ABSTRACT: Changes in the glycoproteins on the surface of rat epididymal sperm during maturation were investigated using Jackfruit lectin. Using the lectin-horse radish peroxidase conjugate, the lectin-binding glycoproteins were found to be localized mainly on the acrosomal region of the immature (caput) sperm. However, the lectin-binding glycoproteins were found to distribute over the whole surface of the mature (cauda) sperm. When the membrane fraction extracted by Triton X-100 was analyzed by SDS-PAGE and the lectin staining, 3 glycoprotein bands (Mr = 127,000, 118,000 and 62,000) were detected for the caput sperm but 4 glycoprotein bands (Mr = 118,000, 108,000, 99,000 and 62,000) were detected for the cauda sperm. Differences were also found in the association constants and the number of binding sites between these two groups of sperm. The data supported the contention that sperm surface underwent changes during epididymal transit (maturation)

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a Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla 90112, Thailand.
b Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10400, Thailand.

Received June 23, 1995