“The oviduct acts as a functional sperm reservoir in many mammalian species. Both binding and release of spermatozoa from the oviductal epithelium are mainly modulated by sperm capacitation. Several molecules from oviductal fluid are involved in the regulation of sperm function.
Anandamide is a lipid mediator involved in reproductive physiology. Previously, we demonstrated that anandamide, through activation of the cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1), promotes sperm release from bovine oviductal epithelial cells, and through CB1 and the transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1), induces sperm capacitation.
Our results also suggest that a phospholypase C (PLC) might mediate the activation of CB1 and TRPV1 in sperm release from the bovine oviduct.
Therefore, our findings indicate that anandamide, through CB1 and TRPV1 activation, is involved in sperm release from the oviductal reservoir. An increase of sperm Ca2+ levels and the PLC activation might be involved in anandamide signaling pathway. ”