Are TRP channels involved in sperm development and function?

Spermatozoa must translate information from their environment and the egg to achieve fertilization in sexually reproducing animals. These tasks require decoding a variety of signals in the form of intracellular Ca2+ changes. As TRP channels constitute a large family of versatile multi-signal transducers, they are interesting subjects in which to explore their possible participation in sperm function. Here, we review the evidence for their presence and involvement in sperm motility, maturation, and the acrosome reaction, an exocytotic process required for sperm–egg fusion. Since store-operated Ca2+ entry (SOCE) has been proposed to play an important role in these three functions, the main proteins responsible for this transport (STIM and ORAI) and their interaction with TRPs are also discussed. Improving our tools to solve infertility, improve animal breeding, and preserve biodiversity requires a better understanding of how Ca2+ is regulated in spermatozoa.