Kennedy A M, Morrell J M, Siviter R J, Cockle S M
School of Animal and Microbial Sciences, University of Reading, UK.
Mol Reprod Dev. 1997 May;47(1):113-9. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1098-2795(199705)47:1<113::AID-MRD15>3.0.CO;2-2.
Fertilization-promoting peptide (FPP) is present in the prostate gland and semen of some mammals, and has been shown to enhance the fertilizing ability of both epididymal mouse and ejaculated human spermatozoa. The novel peptide may prove of importance for the treatment of some cases of male infertility, and a suitable animal model would be useful to test this hypothesis. To this end, we examined reproductive tissues and semen of the male marmoset for the presence of FPP. Peptides were extracted from seminal plasma, testes, prostate, and bulbourethral glands of intact and castrated male marmosets. The peptides were identified by ion-exchange chromatography followed by radioimmunoassay. The mean concentration of FPP immunoreactivity in semen from intact males was 58.7 nM (SE +/- 9.9 nM, n = 10), and anion-exchange chromatography revealed FPP as the only immunoreactive peptide present. Analysis of tissues revealed that FPP in semen was likely to be derived from the prostate gland, which contained this peptide as the major source of immunoreactivity (10.86 pmol/gland; SE +/- 4.39 pmol/gland, n = 4). Only low concentrations of FPP were detectable in the bulbourethral glands, and the peptide was undetectable in the testis. Surprisingly, FPP was readily detectable in the seminal plasma from one castrated marmoset and was present in the prostate gland from 3 castrates at levels which did not differ significantly from those in intact animals (5.47 pmol/gland, SE +/- 1.64 pmol/gland, n = 3). Plasma testosterone measurements indicated that residual circulatory androgens remained after castration, which may be consistent both with the maintenance of mating behavior and the presence of prostatic FPP. We conclude that FPP is present within the prostate gland and seminal plasma of the marmoset at concentrations consistent with a role in male fertility in this species.
促受精肽（FPP）存在于一些哺乳动物的前列腺和精液中，并且已被证明能增强附睾中的小鼠精子以及射出的人类精子的受精能力。这种新型肽可能对某些男性不育病例的治疗具有重要意义，而合适的动物模型将有助于验证这一假设。为此，我们检测了雄性狨猴的生殖组织和精液中是否存在FPP。从完整和阉割的雄性狨猴的精浆、睾丸、前列腺和尿道球腺中提取肽。通过离子交换色谱法，随后进行放射免疫测定来鉴定这些肽。完整雄性的精液中FPP免疫反应性的平均浓度为58.7 nM（标准误±9.9 nM，n = 10），阴离子交换色谱显示FPP是唯一存在的免疫反应性肽。组织分析表明，精液中的FPP可能来源于前列腺，前列腺含有该肽作为免疫反应性的主要来源（10.86 pmol/腺体；标准误±4.39 pmol/腺体，n = 4）。在尿道球腺中仅检测到低浓度的FPP，在睾丸中未检测到该肽。令人惊讶的是，在一只阉割狨猴的精浆中很容易检测到FPP，并且在3只阉割动物的前列腺中也存在，其水平与完整动物中的水平无显著差异（5.47 pmol/腺体，标准误±1.64 pmol/腺体，n = 3）。血浆睾酮测量表明阉割后仍有残余的循环雄激素，这可能与交配行为的维持以及前列腺中FPP的存在均相符。我们得出结论，FPP以与该物种雄性生育作用一致的浓度存在于狨猴的前列腺和精浆中。
