Project description:Although piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) play pivotal roles in spermatogenesis, little is known about piRNAs in the seminal plasma of infertile males. In this study, we systematically investigated the profiles of seminal plasma piRNAs in infertile males to identify piRNAs that are altered during infertility and evaluate their diagnostic value. Seminal plasma samples were obtained from 211 infertile patients (asthenozoospermia and azoospermia) and 91 fertile controls. High-throughput sequencing technology was employed to screen piRNA profiles in seminal plasma samples pooled from healthy controls and infertile patients. The results identified 61 markedly altered piRNAs in the infertile patient groups compared with the control group. Next, a quantitative RT-PCR assay was conducted in the training and validation sets to measure and confirm the concentrations of altered piRNAs. The results identified a panel of 5 piRNAs that were significantly decreased in the seminal plasma of infertile patients compared with healthy controls. The areas under the ROC curves for these piRNAs ranged from 0.796 to 0.996, suggesting that the diagnostic potential of these 5 piRNAs to distinguish asthenozoospermic and azoospermic individuals from healthy controls was high. In summary, this study identifies a panel of piRNAs that can accurately distinguish fertile from infertile males. This finding may provide pathophysiological clues that are involved in the development of infertility. Fresh samples were collected and stored at -80â??.Total RNA of seminal plasma were extracted and solexa sequencing was performed.
Project description:Although piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) play pivotal roles in spermatogenesis, little is known about piRNAs in the seminal plasma of infertile males. In this study, we systematically investigated the profiles of seminal plasma piRNAs in infertile males to identify piRNAs that are altered during infertility and evaluate their diagnostic value. Seminal plasma samples were obtained from 211 infertile patients (asthenozoospermia and azoospermia) and 91 fertile controls. High-throughput sequencing technology was employed to screen piRNA profiles in seminal plasma samples pooled from healthy controls and infertile patients. The results identified 61 markedly altered piRNAs in the infertile patient groups compared with the control group. Next, a quantitative RT-PCR assay was conducted in the training and validation sets to measure and confirm the concentrations of altered piRNAs. The results identified a panel of 5 piRNAs that were significantly decreased in the seminal plasma of infertile patients compared with healthy controls. The areas under the ROC curves for these piRNAs ranged from 0.796 to 0.996, suggesting that the diagnostic potential of these 5 piRNAs to distinguish asthenozoospermic and azoospermic individuals from healthy controls was high. In summary, this study identifies a panel of piRNAs that can accurately distinguish fertile from infertile males. This finding may provide pathophysiological clues that are involved in the development of infertility.
Project description:Transcriptional profiling of adult mouse liver tissue comparing offspring derived from sperm and seminal plasma of normal protein diet fed males (controls, NN), sperm and seminal plasma from males fed a low protein diet fed males (LL), sperm from normal protein fed males and seminal plasma from low protein fed males (NL) or sperm from low protein diet fed males and seminal plasma from normal protein diet males (NL). The first letter denotes the diet of the sperm donor and the second letter the diet of the seminal plasma donor. Three-condition experiment: NN vs. LL, NN vs. NL, NN vs. LN. Adult offspring liver tissue. Biological replicates: 7 control (NN), 9 LL, 7 NL and 7 LN. One replicate per array chip.
Project description:We hypothesized that seminal plasma, the acellular seminal fluid component, influences the endometrium stimulating the immune system and facilitating the implantation. We designed a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial, and we used microarray analysis to evaluate differences in the endometrial transcriptomic profile after vaginal seminal plasma application. Differential gene pathways analysis showed an upregulation of pathways associated with the immune response, cell viability, proliferation and cellular movement, implantation, embryo development, oocyte maturation and angiogenesis. We compared our results with similar studies in pigs, mice and in vitro human endometrial cells and found similar and found comparable results. Our data show that seminal plasma has a positive effect on the endometrium during the implantation window.
Project description:The problem of the male reproductive system has both medical and social importance. It is highlighted that spermatozoa or seminal plasma are suitable samples for proteomic analysis of the male reproductive system. We suggested that the ejaculate could serve as one of the analytic specimens to determine fertility, which obtainable with relative ease and which contains many proteins. Moreover, the testis-specific proteins could form the basis of protein panel for detecting disorders associated with male infertility. The current study aimed to examine the ejaculate proteome compared to the spermatozoa and seminal plasma proteomes to determine a panel of proteins that can be used to assess sperm quality. Our results showed that the ejaculate represented a productive source for understanding the male reproductive physiology and could serve as a potential origin for the identification of novel protein biomarkers related to spermatozoa function in infertile. We believe that proteomic analysis based on testis-specific proteins of ejaculate along with spermatozoa (or even instead) can be useful for distinguishing the fertile, sub fertile, and infertile men.
Project description:The seminal plasma contains large quantities of extracellular vesicles (EVs). However, the role of these EVs and their interactions with sperms are not clear. To identify the important molecules affecting sperm motility in EVs, we sequenced the EVs in the seminal plasma of Yorkshire boars with different sperm motility using whole RNA sequence.
Project description:In this study we examined the influence of seminal plasma on gene expression in human Ect1 ectocervical epithelial cells, and the extent to which recombinant TGFβ3 elicits comparable changes. Ect1 cells were incubated with recombinant human TGFβ3 (5 ng/ml), 10% pooled human seminal plasma (v/v), or medium alone for 10h. RNA was reverse transcribed into cDNA and hybridized to Affymetrix GeneChip® Human Genome U133 plus 2.0 microarrays (Affymetrix, Santa Clara, CA). Exposure of Ect1 cells to seminal plasma resulted in differential expression of a total of 3955 probe sets, identified using high stringency criteria with MAS 5.0 analysis. These corresponded to 1338 genes up-regulated and 1343 genes down-regulated by seminal plasma. TGFβ3 treatment of Ect1 cells resulted in differential expression of 884 probe sets, corresponding to 346 up-regulated genes and 229 down-regulated genes. The genes differentially regulated by seminal plasma included several genes associated with cytokine–cytokine receptor interaction, TGFβ signalling, JAK/STAT signalling or VEGF signalling pathways, as specified by the KEGG database. Of 47 genes in these families, 17 (36.1%) were similarly regulated by both seminal plasma and TGFβ3. These data, together with additional experiments showing all three TGFβ isoforms can regulate inflammatory cytokine expression in Ect1 cells, identify TGFβ isoforms as key agents in seminal plasma that signal induction of pro-inflammatory cytokine synthesis in cervical cells.
Project description:In this study we examined the influence of seminal plasma on gene expression in human Ect1 ectocervical epithelial cells, and the extent to which recombinant TGFβ3 elicits comparable changes. Ect1 cells were incubated with recombinant human TGFβ3 (5 ng/ml), 10% pooled human seminal plasma (v/v), or medium alone for 10h. RNA was reverse transcribed into cDNA and hybridized to Affymetrix GeneChip® Human Genome U133 plus 2.0 microarrays (Affymetrix, Santa Clara, CA). Exposure of Ect1 cells to seminal plasma resulted in differential expression of a total of 3955 probe sets, identified using high stringency criteria with MAS 5.0 analysis. These corresponded to 1338 genes up-regulated and 1343 genes down-regulated by seminal plasma. TGFβ3 treatment of Ect1 cells resulted in differential expression of 884 probe sets, corresponding to 346 up-regulated genes and 229 down-regulated genes. The genes differentially regulated by seminal plasma included several genes associated with cytokine–cytokine receptor interaction, TGFβ signalling, JAK/STAT signalling or VEGF signalling pathways, as specified by the KEGG database. Of 47 genes in these families, 17 (36.1%) were similarly regulated by both seminal plasma and TGFβ3. These data, together with additional experiments showing all three TGFβ isoforms can regulate inflammatory cytokine expression in Ect1 cells, identify TGFβ isoforms as key agents in seminal plasma that signal induction of pro-inflammatory cytokine synthesis in cervical cells. RNA from each of four biological replicates, each comprising pooled material from separate sets of 4 replicate wells, was analysed for each treatment. Total RNA was reverse transcribed into cDNA and sent to the Australian Genome Research Facility (AGRF; Melbourne, Australia) for single-cycle labeling and hybridization to 12 Affymetrix GeneChip® Human Genome U133 plus 2.0 microarrays (Affymetrix, Santa Clara, CA).
Project description:The study of male infertility after spinal cord injury (SCI) has enhanced the understanding of seminal plasma (SP) as an important regulator of spermatozoa function. However, the most important factors leading to the diminished sperm motility and viability observed in semen of men with SCI remained unknown. Thus, to explore SP related molecular mechanisms underlying infertility after SCI we used mass spectrometry-based quantitative proteomics to compare SP retrieved from SCI patients to normal controls. As a result, we present an in-depth characterization of the human SP proteome, identifying ~2,800 unique proteins, and describe, in detail, the differential proteome observed in SCI. Our analysis demonstrates that a hyper-activation of the immune system may influence some seminal processes, which probably are not triggered by microbial infection. Moreover, we show evidence of an important prostate gland functional failure, i.e. diminished abundance of metabolic enzymes related to ATP turnover, secreted via prostasomes and identify the main outcome related to this fact and that it is intrinsically linked to the low sperm motility in SCI. Together, our data suggest the molecular pathways hindering fertility in SCI and shed new light on other causes of male infertility.