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Secretory Mechanisms and Ca2+ Signaling in Gametes: Similarities to Regulated Neuroendocrine Secretion in Somatic Cells and Involvement in Emerging Pathologies

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Abstract

Recent studies demonstrate that regulated secretion in probably all mammalian cells, from gonadotropes to gametes, utilizes similar signaling systems, intracellular Ca2+ regulation, Ca2+-dependent proteins, cytoskeletal participation, and SNARE-mediated fusion. Thus, highly specialized cells, like sperm and eggs, should no longer be considered to have evolved a cell-type specific secretory mechanism. In gametes, Ca2+-dependent proteins and enzymes transduce elevations of intracellular Ca2+ into secretory events, i.e., exocytosis of the acrosome in sperm and cortical granules in the egg. Just as secretory deficiencies have clinical consequences in endocrine and exocrine cells, failure of secretion of cortical granules or the acrosome can result in failure of normal fertilization or fertilization followed by abnormal development. With the advent of human in vitro fertilization, such gamete pathologies have been recently identified and have led to new clinical procedures to achieve normal fertilization and pregnancies. A better understanding of the common Ca2+-dependent secretory pathways in both gametes and somatic cells should be beneficial to investigating mis-regulation in either cell type.

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Acknowledgement

The authors wish to thank Mary Ann Handel, John Eppig, and Harvey Florman for comments on specific parts of the manuscript and NICHD for support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sackler School of Biomedical Sciences, Program in Cell, Molecular, and Developmental Biology, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, 0211, USA

    Tom Ducibella

  2. Department of OB/GYN, Box 36, Tufts-New England Medical Center, 750 Washington St., Boston, MA, 02111, USA

    Tom Ducibella & Sara Matson

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  1. Tom Ducibella
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  2. Sara Matson
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Correspondence to Tom Ducibella.

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Ducibella, T., Matson, S. Secretory Mechanisms and Ca2+ Signaling in Gametes: Similarities to Regulated Neuroendocrine Secretion in Somatic Cells and Involvement in Emerging Pathologies. Endocr Pathol 18, 191–203 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12022-007-0015-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12022-007-0015-7

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