Hofmeister effect underlying the quiescence of sperm motility in the vas deferens of the viviparous guppy Poecilia reticulata

Guppy sperm are immotile in the fluid (seminal plasma) of the vas deferens. We previously reported that the initiation of sperm motility is regulated by "Hofmeister solutes" in the isotonic medium. This indicates that chaotropes in solution activate the guppy sperm, whereas counteracting kosmotropes negate this activational effect and keep the sperm immotile. Here we show that seminal plasma has a strong inhibitory effect on sperm activation in response to chaotropes and multivalent ions, and that this inhibitory effect is due to kosmotropicity of the seminal plasma. These findings suggest a novel system of regulation of sperm motility in the guppy, a viviparious fish, in which the sperm are kept immotile in the vas deferens by a physicochemical effect (the Hofmeister effect) of the seminal plasma.