Effect of recombinant β‐defensin 1 protein on human sperm motility and viability

Abstract

The reduction of sperm motility and subsequently reduced ability to undergo capacitation and acrosome reaction are considered as common causes of male infertility. The β‐defensin family is a group of well‐known secretory proteins with antimicrobial activity that contribute to the process of “sperm maturation” during the passage of spermatozoa in the epididymis when spermatozoa attain its motility. One member of this family is “β‐defensin 1” which is present in seminal plasma and spermatozoa. The aim of this study was the incubation of human processed spermatozoa with recombinant β‐defensin 1 (500 ng/ml) for 1, 2 and 3 hr at 37°C under 5% CO2 atmosphere and assessment of sperm viability and motility in 59 semen samples. The analysis of semen samples such as sperm concentration, motility, viability, morphology and semen volume was performed according to the World Health Organization (2010; World health organization laboratory manual for the examination and processing of human semen (p. 287). Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization) criteria. The result of the current study shows that the incubation of spermatozoa with recombinant β‐defensin significantly maintained percentage of sperm viability and motility compared to processed spermatozoa incubate in the absence of β‐defensin in the studied time intervals (p < .05). Therefore, we concluded that recombinant β‐defensin 1 protein as an agent with antimicrobial activity can maintain sperm viability and motility in in vitro condition.

Amplification, Copy Number Variation, Expression and Association of Non-synonymous SNP of Bovine Beta-defensin 129 Gene With Distinct Fertility of Cattle Bull

“…BDs) improve fertilization potential of sperm [71][72][73]. The addition of prokaryotically expressed bovine r-BBD126 protein to non-motile caput-epididymal spermatozoa improves their motility and mucus penetration ability but lacks the ability to improve fertility [74][75]. This failure to improve sperm fertilizing ability could be due to prokaryotic expression of bovine BBD126 because prokaryotes lack post-translational modi cation system and DEFB126 or its orthologs are known for their post-translational modi cations (glycosylations) [23,71].…”

“…The non-synonymous mutations (CC/AA and CT/AC) genotypes of cattle BNBD4 and DEFB103 are associated with higher milk, fat, proteins, lactose, dry matter contents, somatic cell counts, and resistance to mastitis [72,75,[83][84]. The genotypic analysis found that the human DEFB126 gene is highly polymorphic bearing 77 known SNPs, out of these, rs140685149 and rs11467497 are associated with human infertility affecting sperm surface glycans, motility (rs11467497), higher round cells in semen, cervical mucus penetration ability [10-11, 33-34, 74].…”

“…Human epididymal DEF129 protein bind to the sperm surface chemokine receptor CCR6 and in uence the calcium ion in ux causing sperm hypermotility. The exogenous additions of different concentrations of recombinant-BDs to de cient spermatozoa signi cantly increase their motility, viability, and antimicrobial activity [36,75,92]. To date, there is no published report on the expression of the Indian cattle BBD129 gene in the male reproductive tract.…”

Amplification, copy number variation, expression and association of non-synonymous SNP of bovine beta-defensin 129 gene with distinct fertility of cattle bull

“…BDs) improve fertilization potential of sperm [71][72][73]. The addition of prokaryotically expressed bovine r-BBD126 protein to non-motile caputepididymal spermatozoa improves their motility and mucus penetration ability but lacks the ability to improve fertility [74][75]. This failure to improve sperm fertilizing ability could be due to the prokaryotic expression of bovine BBD126 because prokaryotes lack a post-translational modi cation system and DEFB126 or its orthologs are known for their post-translational modi cations (glycosylations) [23,71].…”

“…In the bovine, studies are largely focused on genomic SNPs associated with milk production, susceptibility to immune function, and parasite resistance [82]. The non-synonymous mutations (CC/AA and CT/AC) genotypes of cattle BNBD4 and DEFB103 are associated with higher milk, fat, proteins, lactose, dry matter contents, somatic cell counts, and resistance to mastitis [72,75,[83][84].…”