Mammalian sperm have unusual plasma membranes compared to those of somatic cells. After leaving the testes, sperm cease plasma membrane lipid and protein systhesis. A major fraction of mammalian sperm plasma membranes are lipid linked. A large fraction of their lipid chains are highly unsaturated. Biophysical studies reveal that lipids are regionalized on the sperm surface and are highly immobile. This immobile fraction evolves with sperm development. This non-diffusing fraction is also observed in bilayers reconstituted from lipid extracts of sperm head plasma membranes, suggesting the existence of gel phase domains in these membranes. This hypothesis is further supported by differential scanning calorimetry, which shares at least two relatively broad phase transitions with physiological temperature falling between these major transitions.

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PubMedDate not supplied

Identification of a glutathione conjugate of cambendazole formed in the presence of liver microsomes.

The incubation of multiply labeled (2H, 3H, 13C, 14C) cambendazole and glutathione with hepatic microsomes from phenobarbital-dosed hamsters results in the formation of polar metabolites. The major metabolite has been characterized by a variety of isotopic, spectrometric, chromatographic, and degradative/synthetic techniques as a glutathione conjugate of cambendazole in which substitution is on the 4-position of the benzimidazole nucleus. The same metabolite is produced by hepatic microsomes from the rat.

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