Institute of Life Science and School of Life Science, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330031, China.
Key Laboratory of Reproductive Physiology and Pathology in Jiangxi Province, Nanchang 330031, China.
Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Nov 16;22(22):12370. doi: 10.3390/ijms222212370.
Ketamine, which used to be widely applied in human and animal medicine as a dissociative anesthetic, has become a popular recreational drug because of its hallucinogenic effect. Our previous study preliminarily proved that ketamine could inhibit human sperm function by affecting intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca]). However, the specific signaling pathway of [Ca] induced by ketamine in human sperm is still not clear yet. Here, the -methyl-d-aspartic acid (NMDA) receptor was detected in the tail region of human sperm. Its physiological ligand, NMDA (50 μM), could reverse ketamine's inhibitory effect on human sperm function, and its antagonist, MK801 (100 μM), could restrain the effect of NMDA. The inhibitory effect caused by 4 mM ketamine or 100 μM MK801 on [Ca], which is a central factor in the regulation of human sperm function, could also be recovered by 50 μM NMDA. The results suggest that the NMDA receptor is probably involved in the inhibitory effect of ketamine on human sperm functions.
氯胺酮过去曾广泛应用于人类和动物医学领域，作为一种分离麻醉剂，但由于其致幻作用，现已成为一种流行的娱乐性药物。我们之前的研究初步证明，氯胺酮可以通过影响细胞内钙离子浓度 ([Ca]) 来抑制人类精子功能。然而，氯胺酮在人类精子中引起 [Ca] 的具体信号通路尚不清楚。本研究在人精子尾部区域检测到 -甲基-d-天冬氨酸 (NMDA) 受体。其生理配体 NMDA（50 μM）可逆转氯胺酮对人精子功能的抑制作用，其拮抗剂 MK801（100 μM）可抑制 NMDA 的作用。4 mM 氯胺酮或 100 μM MK801 对 [Ca] 的抑制作用（[Ca] 是调节人类精子功能的核心因素之一）也可以被 50 μM NMDA 恢复。这些结果表明，NMDA 受体可能参与了氯胺酮对人类精子功能的抑制作用。
