Baazm Maryam, Ghafarizadeh Ali Asghar, Noshad Kamran Ali Reza, Beyer Cordian, Zendedel Adib
Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran. Electronic Address:
Infertility Center of ACECR, Arak, Iran.
Int J Fertil Steril. 2020 Apr;14(1):46-50. doi: 10.22074/ijfs.2020.5734. Epub 2020 Feb 25.
Varicocele is a common cause of male infertility with multifactorial etiology. Inflammation is a characteristic pathological event that occurs in the testis tissue following the varicocele. The aim of this study was to investigate expression of nod-like receptor family, pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome components and cytokines in semen of varicocele and control subjects.
In this case-control study, seminal plasma was collected from 32 varicocele patients (with grades 2 and 3) and 20 fertile men as control group. Semen analysis was performed in all subjects. Concentrations of interleukin-1b (IL-1b), IL-18 and caspase-1 in seminal plasma were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a caspase activation and recruitment domain, in addition to NALP3 were identified in seminal plasma by Western blot. Statistical significance between the mean values was determined by student's t test.
According to our data, the level of IL-1b was significantly (P=0.03) increased in the seminal plasma of varicocele patients, compared to the control subjects. We analyzed amount of IL-18 in the both groups. The level of this interleukin was markedly (P=0.002) decreased in varicocele patients. No change was observed in the level of caspase-1 in both groups. Western blot analysis revealed that apoptosis associated speck-like protein (ASC, P=0.0002) and NLRP3 (P=0.005) were significantly elevated in the semen of varicocele patients.
This study provides the first evidence of activation of NLRP3 components in semen of men with varicocele.
精索静脉曲张是男性不育的常见原因，其病因是多因素的。炎症是精索静脉曲张后发生在睾丸组织中的特征性病理事件。本研究的目的是调查精索静脉曲张患者和对照组精液中NOD样受体家族含pyrin结构域3（NLRP3）炎性小体成分及细胞因子的表达。
在本病例对照研究中，从32例精索静脉曲张患者（2级和3级）和20名生育能力正常的男性作为对照组中采集精液。对所有受试者进行精液分析。采用酶联免疫吸附测定（ELISA）法检测精液中白细胞介素-1β（IL-1β）、IL-18和半胱天冬酶-1的浓度。通过蛋白质免疫印迹法在精液中鉴定含半胱天冬酶激活和募集结构域的凋亡相关斑点样蛋白以及NALP3。采用学生t检验确定平均值之间的统计学显著性。
根据我们的数据，与对照组相比，精索静脉曲张患者精液中IL-1β水平显著升高（P = 0.03）。我们分析了两组中的IL-18含量。精索静脉曲张患者中这种白细胞介素水平显著降低（P = 0.002）。两组中半胱天冬酶-1水平未观察到变化。蛋白质免疫印迹分析显示精索静脉曲张患者精液中凋亡相关斑点样蛋白（ASC，P = 0.0002）和NLRP3（P = 0.005）显著升高。
本研究首次提供了精索静脉曲张男性精液中NLRP3成分激活的证据。
