FIGURE 6.

Cellular respiration of epididymal cauda sperm prepared from mice of different genotype. Sperm were prepared from the epididymal cauda of mice with different genotypes and employed for in vitro respiration studies as indicated under “Materials and Methods.” The measured oxygen consumption was normalized to the number of cells. A, the basal oxygen consumption rate was assayed over a time period of 16 min, and then inhibitors of the mitochondrial respiratory chain (antimycin A, rotenone) were added to block cellular respiration. Representative examples of the respiration curves for each genotype are shown. B, statistical evaluation of the repetitive oxygen uptake studies (n = 4–5 for each genotype). n.s., not significant. Stars indicate significant (p < 0.05) differences between the experimental groups; o, outlier.