Fig. 10.

Assessment of the impact of the mitochondrial uncoupling agent, CCCP on crocodile sperm motility. To determine the contribution of oxidative phosphorylation to supporting the enhanced motility parameters elicited in response to capacitation stimuli, capacitating populations of crocodile spermatozoa were co-incubated CCCP (a chemical uncoupler of oxidative phosphorylation) or the appropriate DMSO vehicle control. Spermatozoa were sampled from each treatment group immediately after introduction of CCCP (t = 0) and at 30 and 60 min intervals and assessed for (A,) overall percentage of motile cells and (B,) the rate of sperm movement using criteria defined by Barth (49). These experiments were replicated on independent samples from three different crocodiles, and data are presented as mean ± S.E. * p, < 0.05, ** p, < 0.01.