Egg activation at fertilization in mammalian eggs is caused by a series of transient increases in the cytosolic free Ca2+ concentration, referred to as Ca2+ oscillations. It is widely accepted that these Ca2+ oscillations are initiated by a sperm derived phospholipase C isoform, PLCζ that hydrolyses its substrate PIP2 to produce the Ca2+ releasing messenger InsP3. However, it is not clear wheth...

Mammalian reproduction is one of the most complex and fascinating biological phenomenon, which aims to transfer maternal and paternal genetic material to the next generation. At the end of oogenesis and spermatogenesis, both haploid gametes contain a single set of chromosomes ready to form the zygote, the first cell of the newly developing individual. The mature oocyte and spermatozoa remain in...

Objective(s): Phospholipase C ζ (PLCζ) is considered as a nominee for sperm associated oocyte activating factors and is located back-to-back with CAPZA3, an actin-capping protein controlling actin polymerization during spermiogenesis. They contain a common bidirectional promoter. The objective of this study was to identify individuals with parallel low expression of PLCζ and CAPZA3 mRNA, in hop...

Background: Failed fertilization post ICSI has been mainly attributed to the sperm’s inability to induce oocyte activation. Phospholipase C Zeta (PLCζ) is considered to be a primary factor for the induction of oocyte activation. The aim of this study was to quantitatively assess the expression of PLCζ in globozoospermic or individuals with previous low or failed fertilization in comparison to f...

objective(s): phospholipase c ζ (plcζ) is considered as a nominee for sperm associated oocyte activating factors and is located back-to-back with capza3, an actin-capping protein controlling actin polymerization during spermiogenesis. they contain a common bidirectional promoter. the objective of this study was to identify individuals with parallel low expression of plcζ and capza3 mrna, in hop...

Fertilization is triggered by changes in intracellular calcium concentration. In mammals, these transients in ooplasmic calcium concentration take the form of repetitive spikes, so called calcium oscillations (Ca-oscillations). These oscillations are important for relieve of meiotic arrest and to induce all the other events of oocyte activation. Although a surface mediated way of oocyte activat...

Mammalian oocyte activation is mediated by cytosolic calcium (Ca(2+)) oscillations initiated upon delivery of a putative 'sperm factor' by the fertilizing sperm. Previous studies suggest the identity of this sperm factor as the testis-specific phospholipase C-zeta (PLCζ). Recently, a post-acrosomal sheath WW domain-binding protein (PAWP) has been proposed as an alternative sperm factor candidat...

OBJECTIVE Globozoospermia is a rare type of teratozoospermia with incidence of 0.1% among infertile individuals. Phospholipase C zeta (PLCζ) and postacrosomal sheath WW domain binding protein (PAWP) are the main candidates in sperm taking responsibility for oocyte activation during fertilization. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the expression of these two genes at RNA and protein levels in glob...