Analysis of germ cell specific actin capping protein

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K20133
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Urology
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: Tetsuji Soda 大阪大学, 医学系研究科, 招へい教員 (20722656)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: アクチンキャッピングプロテイン / 精巣特異的 / 男性不妊症

Outline of Final Research Achievements

By the use of testicular specimen obtained from testicular biopsy, the cellular localization of CPβ3 changed dynamically at each step during spermatogenesis. Double-staining analysis revealed that CPα3 localization was identical to CPβ3 at every step in the spermatogenic cells. Co-IP assay with recombinant protein showed that CPα3 and CPβ3 form a protein complex.
Spermatozoa from the normal group were stained homogenously by both CPα3 and CPβ3. In contrast, significantly more spermatozoa in the group of oligozoo- or asthenozoospermatozoa showed heterogeneous or lack of staining for either CPα3 or CPβ3. Even by confining the observations to morphologically normal spermatozoa, the percentage of abnormal staining was still higher in the oligozoo- or asthenozoospermatozoa group.
In conclusion, CPβ3 in conjunction with CPα3 seemed to play an important role in spermatogenesis and may be associated with male infertility.

Free Research Field

生殖医療