Association of Seminal Plasma Motility Inhibitors/Semenogelins with Sperm in Asthenozoospermia-Infertile Men

Abstract

Seminal plasma motility inhibitors (SPMIs) are proteinase-resistant fragments of semenogelin I and II (Sgs), which are the major proteins of semen coagulum. SPMIs inhibit the motility of spermatozoa, and Sgs are thought to be natural regulators of human sperm function. The mechanism underlying sperm motility regulation and its association with defective motility in infertile men remain unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between SPMIs and spermatozoa in infertile men with asthenozoospermia. Fifty-four semen samples from 37 asthenozoospermic patients and 17 samples from 9 normal healthy subjects were analyzed. Spermatozoa, washed by Percoll density gradients, were immunostained with anti-SPMI antibody and subjected to flow cytometric analysis. The proportion of spermatozoa labeled with the antibody and the average intensity of fluorescence labeling per spermatozoa were analyzed in relation to the parameters used for semen analysis. A significant negative correlation was found between sperm motility and the proportion (R = –0.68) and intensity (R = –0.38) of labeling. These results suggest that SPMIs remain on the sperm surface after liquefaction. This might account for some disorders of sperm motility observed in infertile men with asthenozoospermia.

SEMG1 may be the candidate gene for idiopathic asthenozoospermia

“…Terai et al . () found a significant higher concentration of Sg1 that remains adhere to the spermatozoa after washing with Percoll gradient in asthenospermia patients comparing with normal volunteers. Furthermore, two previous proteomics analysis of spermatozoa samples reported that there was a significantly higher amount of Sg1 in the asthenospermia patients when compared with normal volunteers (Zhao et al ., ; Martinez‐Heredia et al ., ).…”

“…However, in these two studies, relation between the expression level of mRNA and protein revealed nonlinearity; it is postulated that protein, the translation product of RNA, may not be sensitive to the exact amount of RNA copies for the reason that there were various ways (most mechanisms still unknown) that affected the translation rate of RNA to protein. On the other hand, the intensity of SEMG1 expression may be a practical marker for the assessment of spermatozoa motility, as the labelling intensity of Sg1 was found to be significantly correlated with motility (Terai et al ., ).…”

Sperm FISH and chromatin integrity in spermatozoa from a t(6;10;11) carrier

“…There are several factors influencing sperm motility, including respective gene expression, anomalies in flagellum (i.e. mitochondria) and environmental factors (Terai et al 2010, Moretti et al 2011, Pelliccione et al 2011, Visser et al 2011, Ferramosca et al 2012. Thus, it cannot be ruled out that some of these genes were interrupted or mutated and their expression change constituted an indirect factor that decreased the motility of sperm cells.…”

Evaluation of CD52 positive sperms in subfertile human semen samples: Is there any relationship with main semen parameters?

“…there are more amount of SPMI and CD52 which facilities connection between SPMI and sperm surface. [1823]…”

“…[18] Another study showed that positive correlation between the presence of CD52 with any main semen parameters include motility. [22]…”