Sperm Physiology and Artificial Fertilization

Abstract

Sperm is composed by spermatozoa and seminal fluid which, in teleost fish, maintains the cell in a quiescent stage within the testes, providing all the metabolic resources needed for maintenance. Most fish species have external fertilization and for that they have an aquasperm cell type, characterized by the loss of acrosome membrane as a result of evolution. Seminal plasma plays a crucial role supporting spermatozoa and has physiological and endocrinological functions during the release of sperm from the testis into the sperm duct, and subsequently to the aquatic environment. The cell plasma membrane is composed of a thin bilayer of amphipathic lipids that separates and protects the cell from the extracellular environment, and it is responsible, as in other cells, for the control of substance traffic through the cell. In a general cell, in the chromatin structure, DNA is associated with proteins, mainly histones, forming a nucleoprotein complex in eukaryotic organisms.