State Key Laboratory of Swine and Poultry Breeding Industry, National Engineering Research Center for Breeding Swine Industry, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Agro-Animal Genomics and Molecular Breeding, College of Animal Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangdong 510642, China.
Int J Mol Sci. 2024 Feb 14;25(4):2264. doi: 10.3390/ijms25042264.
Semen proteins play an important role in male reproductive performance and sperm fertilization ability and can be used as potential biomarkers to evaluate male fertility. The role of cysteine-rich secretory protein 3 (CRISP3) in male reproduction remains unknown. This study aimed to investigate the role of CRISP3 in the reproductive performance of boars. Our results showed that the CRISP3 protein content was significantly and positively correlated with boar fertility, sow delivery rate, and litter size. CRISP3 is highly expressed in the bulbourethral gland of adult boars and is enriched in the seminal plasma. It is localized in the post-acrosomal region of the sperm head and migrates to the anterior end of the tail after capacitation. The CRISP3 recombinant protein did not affect sperm motility and cleavage rate, but it significantly downregulated the mRNA expression of inflammatory factors IL-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 and the protein expression of IL-α and IL-6 in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced RAW264.7 cells, indicating that CRISP3 has an immunomodulatory function. In conclusion, our study suggests that semen CRISP3 protein levels positively correlate with reproductive performance, which may be achieved by regulating immune responses in the female reproductive tract.
精蛋白在雄性生殖性能和精子受精能力中发挥着重要作用，可用作评估男性生育力的潜在生物标志物。富含半胱氨酸的分泌蛋白 3（CRISP3）在男性生殖中的作用尚不清楚。本研究旨在探讨 CRISP3 在公猪生殖性能中的作用。我们的结果表明，CRISP3 蛋白含量与公猪的繁殖力、母猪分娩率和窝产仔数呈显著正相关。CRISP3 在成年公猪的尿道球腺中高度表达，并在精液中富集。它位于精子头部顶体后区，在获能后迁移到尾部前端。CRISP3 重组蛋白不影响精子的运动能力和卵裂率，但它显著下调了脂多糖（LPS）诱导的 RAW264.7 细胞中炎性因子 IL-α、IL-1β 和 IL-6 的 mRNA 表达以及 IL-α 和 IL-6 的蛋白表达，表明 CRISP3 具有免疫调节功能。综上所述，我们的研究表明，精液 CRISP3 蛋白水平与繁殖性能呈正相关，这可能是通过调节生殖道的免疫反应来实现的。
