Janghorban-Laricheh Elham, Ghazavi-Khorasgani Nasim, Tavalaee Marziyeh, Zohrabi Dina, Abbasi Homayon, Nasr-Esfahani Mohammad H
Department of Reproductive Biotechnology, Reproductive Biomedicine Research Center, Royan Institute for Biotechnology, ACECR, Isfahan, Iran.
Department of Biology, Nourdanesh Institute of Higher Education, Meymeh, Isfahan, Iran.
J Assist Reprod Genet. 2016 Dec;33(12):1649-1655. doi: 10.1007/s10815-016-0802-5. Epub 2016 Sep 9.
We aimed to compare the expression of phospholipase C ζ (PLCζ), as one of the main sperm factors involved in oocyte activation, at both RNA and protein levels in fertile men and those with varicocele.
This study included 35 individuals with male factor infertility presenting primary infertility with grade II and III unilateral varicocele and 20 fertile men without varicocele. Semen parameters were assessed according to WHO 2010. Sperm DNA fragmentation, relative expression of PLCζ at messenger RNA, and protein levels were evaluated by sperm chromatin structure assay (SCSA), real-time PCR, and Western blot analysis, respectively.
The results of this study reveal that the mean relative expression of PLCζ was significantly lower in individuals with varicocele compared to fertile men at both transcription and translation levels. In addition, the percentage of DNA fragmentation was significantly higher in infertile men with varicocele compared to fertile men.
The findings of the present study illustrate that one of the etiologies of reduced fertility associated with varicocele is the low expression of PLCζ. This effect could subsequently reduce the sperm ability to induce oocyte activation. Therefore, these results hold promise to modify our understanding of reproductive physiology of varicocele state.
我们旨在比较磷脂酶Cζ（PLCζ）在可育男性和精索静脉曲张男性中的RNA和蛋白质水平表达，PLCζ是参与卵母细胞激活的主要精子因子之一。
本研究纳入了35例因男性因素导致原发性不孕的II级和III级单侧精索静脉曲张患者以及20例无精索静脉曲张的可育男性。根据世界卫生组织2010年标准评估精液参数。分别通过精子染色质结构分析（SCSA）、实时荧光定量PCR和蛋白质印迹分析评估精子DNA片段化、PLCζ在信使RNA水平的相对表达以及蛋白质水平。
本研究结果显示，精索静脉曲张患者中PLCζ的平均相对表达在转录和翻译水平均显著低于可育男性。此外，精索静脉曲张不孕男性的DNA片段化百分比显著高于可育男性。
本研究结果表明，精索静脉曲张导致生育力降低的病因之一是PLCζ表达降低。这种效应随后可能会降低精子诱导卵母细胞激活的能力。因此，这些结果有望改变我们对精索静脉曲张状态生殖生理学的理解。
