Tanaka Hiroyuki, Fujisawa M, Tanaka Hirokazu, Okada H, Kamidono S
Division of Urology, Department of Organs Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan.
BJU Int. 2002 Jun;89(9):905-9. doi: 10.1046/j.1464-410x.2002.02746.x.
To assess immunohistochemically the expression of apoptosis-related proteins in the testes of infertile men, to determine which of these proteins were related to hypospermatogenesis, as a previous report suggested that apoptosis was suppressed in infertile men with varicocele.
The expression of Bcl-2, Bax, caspase-1 (ICE) and caspase-3 (CPP32) were examined in bilateral testicular specimens from 26 infertile men with varicocele and six normal testicular specimens, using the avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex method. Clinical variables were also assessed.
Bax, ICE, and CPP32 were expressed in germ cells, while Bcl-2 was not. Differences in staining in left or right testes were not significant. In both testes of infertile patients with varicocele, significantly fewer germ cells stained for CPP32 than in controls (P < 0.001). For Bax and ICE, total germ cell staining was similar between these groups. Staining was less frequent in infertile patients for both CPP32 and ICE when the analysis was restricted to spermatogonia. Serum luteinizing hormone levels correlated positively with CPP32 staining (P = 0.0457).
The reduced expression of CPP32 participates in regulating apoptosis in the testes of infertile men with varicocele.
通过免疫组织化学方法评估不育男性睾丸中凋亡相关蛋白的表达，确定其中哪些蛋白与精子发生减少有关，因为之前的一份报告表明精索静脉曲张不育男性的凋亡受到抑制。
采用抗生物素蛋白-生物素-过氧化物酶复合物法，检测26例精索静脉曲张不育男性双侧睾丸标本及6例正常睾丸标本中Bcl-2、Bax、半胱天冬酶-1（ICE）和半胱天冬酶-3（CPP32）的表达。同时评估临床变量。
Bax、ICE和CPP32在生殖细胞中表达，而Bcl-2不表达。左右睾丸染色差异不显著。精索静脉曲张不育患者双侧睾丸中，CPP32染色的生殖细胞明显少于对照组（P < 0.001）。对于Bax和ICE，这些组之间的总生殖细胞染色相似。当分析仅限于精原细胞时，不育患者中CPP32和ICE的染色频率均较低。血清黄体生成素水平与CPP32染色呈正相关（P = 0.0457）。
CPP32表达降低参与调节精索静脉曲张不育男性睾丸中的凋亡。
