Cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase isozymes of bovine epididymal spermatozoa: evidence against the existence of an ectokinase.

By using ethidium bromide fluorescence to measure cellular permeability and the photoaffinity probe, 8-azido-[32P1 cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP), to label cAMP-dependent protein kinases, washed bovine epididymal spermatozoa were examined for the presence of “ectokinases” on the sperm surface. In washed, intact spermatozoa, three proteins of Mr 49,000, 54,000, and 56,000 specifically bound 8-azido-[32P] cAMP. The Mr 49,000 protein corresponded to the type I regulatory subunit while the Mr 56,000 and 54,000 proteins comigrated with phosphorylated and dephosphorylated forms, respectively, of type hA regulatory submit of bovine heart. The addition of Nonidet P-40 (0.1%) increased the radioactive labeling of all three proteins and caused the appearance of a cAMP binding protein of Mr 40,000, which was likely a proteolytic fragment of the regulatory subunit. Although these data could support the concept of a surface location for regulatory subunits in spermatozoa, it was necessary to determine if the appearance of cAMP binding sites was correlated with the loss of membrane integrity. A population of washed epididymal spermatozoa appeared to contain 10-20% damaged cells based on ethidium bromide fluorescence. The same population of cells also had 10-20% of the regulatory subunits of the cAMP-dependent protein kinase accessible to labeling with the cyclic AMP photoaffinity probe. When spermatozoa were sonicated for increasing lengths of time, ethidium bromide fluorescence was found to be related directly to the relative amount of regulatory subunit labeling by the probe. It is suggested that the major apparent cAMP-dependent “ectokinases” in sperm represent artifacts resulting from cellular damage.