Evolution and development of the outer acrosomal membrane (OAM) and evidence that acrosin-inhibitors are proteins of the OAM.

An antiserum to the purified porcine outer acrosomal membrane (OAM) was raised in rabbits and the IgG fraction isolated by ammonium sulphate precipitation and ion exchange chromatography. The antibodies reacted exclusively with the acrosomal cap of the sperm head as revealed by indirect immunofluorescence. In addition they cross-reacted not only with the acrosomal part of the spermatozoa of all mammalian species tested (bull, horse, rabbit, rat, mouse, hamster, mole, antelope, monkey, man) but also with the spermatozoa of the cock (Class: birds) and the rainbow trout (Class: fish). All the species exhibited similar development of the acrosomal cap during spermatogenesis, with the appearance of the immunofluorescent stain in early round spermatids. In the mole the localization of the acrosome in elongated testicular spermatids differed from that in all other species: Instead of prominent fluorescence over the apical part of the sperm an equatorial belt was formed. The cross-reactivity of the anti-boar OAM antibody with the acrosomes of different vertebrate species at the morphological level was supported by the results of Western blotting experiments with purified boar OAM proteins and the SDS-extractable proteins of bull and human spermatozoa, respectively. Using anti-OAM antibodies and antibodies against the acrosin inhibitors I and II described recently by Tschesche et al. (1982), in absorption and Western blotting experiments, it was demonstrated that the acrosin inhibitor proteins are integrated in the outer acrosomal membrane.