Histo-Enzymological Observations on Spermatozoa of Inbred Strains of Mice

Summary. Enzymes have been located in the various parts of the spermatozoa of three inbred strains of mice, CBA, C57 and JBT, some enzymes giving very strong reactions. The acrosomal region contains glucose-6-phosphatase, ATPase and monoamine oxidase. The postnuclear cap appears to have only glucose-6-phosphatase whereas the head base shows reactivity for this and also for cholinesterase and monoamine oxidase. The bulk of the enzymes is located in the midpiece of the spermatozoon which not only contains all enzymes present in the other parts of the cell, but also gives positive reactions for various dehydrogenases, DOPA oxidase, β-glucuronidase and leucine aminopeptidase. The tail region differs from the midpiece in the absence of dehydrogenases and certain other enzymes. No significant variation has been observed in the activities of the enzymes between the different strains although in some instances minor differences are suspected.