Department of Biology, Stern College, Yeshiva University, New York, NY, United States.
Department of Urology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, United States.
Reprod Toxicol. 2014 Jan;43:125-9. doi: 10.1016/j.reprotox.2013.12.001. Epub 2013 Dec 15.
Sperm are highly dependent on posttranslational modifications of proteins. Massive phosphorylation on tyrosine residue is required for sperm capacitation. Sumoylation has also been recently implicated in spermatogenesis and sperm functions. Cigarette smoke is known to cause oxidative stress in different tissues, and several studies suggest that it causes oxidative stress in sperm. Whether tobacco affects posttranslational modifications in human sperm is currently unknown. In this study, we show that a short exposure of human sperm to physiological concentrations of cigarette smoke extract (CSE) causes the partial de-sumoylation of many sperm proteins. Furthermore, the presence of a low concentration of CSE in the human tubal fluid during an induction of in vitro capacitation inhibits the capacitation-associated increase in protein phosphorylation. Collectively, changes in posttranslational modifications may be one of the mechanisms through which exposure to tobacco can negatively affect sperm functions and cause fertility problems.
精子对蛋白质的翻译后修饰高度依赖。酪氨酸残基上的大量磷酸化是精子获能所必需的。SUMO 化也最近被牵涉到精子发生和精子功能中。已知香烟烟雾会在不同组织中引起氧化应激，并且有几项研究表明它会导致精子发生氧化应激。目前尚不清楚烟草是否会影响人类精子的翻译后修饰。在这项研究中，我们表明，人类精子短暂暴露于生理浓度的香烟烟雾提取物（CSE）会导致许多精子蛋白的部分去 SUMO 化。此外，在体外获能过程中，当输卵管液中存在低浓度的 CSE 时，会抑制与获能相关的蛋白磷酸化增加。总的来说，翻译后修饰的变化可能是暴露于烟草会对精子功能产生负面影响并导致生育问题的机制之一。
