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Review
. 2025 Jun 17:15:1596356.
doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2025.1596356. eCollection 2025.

Extraction, purification, biological effects and applications of acrosin: a review

Run Quan  1 , Xiaolong Wu  1 , Junjie Zhang  1 , Rongxu Liu  2 , Jianchun Han  1   2 , Danyi Liu  2
Affiliations
Review

Extraction, purification, biological effects and applications of acrosin: a review

Run Quan et al. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. .

Abstract

Acrosin is a proteolytic enzyme in the sperm acrosome that can stimulate sperm to penetrate the zona pellucida, causing the fertilization of the oocyte. Its activity is a crucial indicator of the sperm's fertilization ability, which is critical in mammalian and human reproduction. However, there exists a lack of a comprehensive review of acrosin. In this study, we compared the extraction methods of acrosin, including acid extraction, buffer extraction, and saline extraction. The main methods for purifying acrosin, such as ammonium sulfate precipitation, ultrafiltration, dialysis, gel filtration chromatography, ion-exchange chromatography, and affinity chromatography, are reviewed. In addition, a detailed overview of the biological functions, inhibitors and applications of acrosin are outlined. This study provides methods for the extraction and purification of acrosin and some theoretical basis for the study of its properties. This provides a reference for further research on acrosin.

Keywords: acrosin; acrosin inhibitor; enzymatic properties; extraction; purification; reproduction.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Extraction and purification process of acrosin and proacrosin.
Figure 2
Figure 2
3D structure and active site of acrosomal enzymes from different animals Detailed view of the active sites with acrosin is displayed on the ellipse. The yellow area indicates the active site, and the magenta dashed line indicates the force of interaction between the active site and the ligand. (A) Rabbit; (B) Pig; (C) Rat; (D) Human; (E) Wild turkey; (F) Quail (Bateman et al., 2024).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Main purification methods of acrosin.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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