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Sperm Lipid Markers of Male Fertility in Mammals. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22:ijms22168767. [PMID: 34445473 PMCID: PMC8395862 DOI: 10.3390/ijms22168767] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2021] [Revised: 08/10/2021] [Accepted: 08/12/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Sperm plasma membrane lipids are essential for the function and integrity of mammalian spermatozoa. Various lipid types are involved in each key step within the fertilization process in their own yet coordinated way. The balance between lipid metabolism is tightly regulated to ensure physiological cellular processes, especially referring to crucial steps such as sperm motility, capacitation, acrosome reaction or fusion. At the same time, it has been shown that male reproductive function depends on the homeostasis of sperm lipids. Here, we review the effects of phospholipid, neutral lipid and glycolipid homeostasis on sperm fertilization function and male fertility in mammals.
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Engel KM, Jakop U, Müller K, Grunewald S, Paasch U, Schiller J. MALDI MS Analysis to Investigate the Lipid Composition of Sperm. CURR ANAL CHEM 2020. [DOI: 10.2174/1573411014666181030123256] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Background:
The sperm plasma membrane meets the requirements of sperm transit
through the female genital tract and subsequent fertilization. Commonly, the (phospho)lipid composition
of sperm is characterized by tremendous amounts of highly unsaturated fatty acyl residues such
as docosahexaenoic and docosapentaenoic acid. While human sperm contain almost exclusively diacyl
lipids, many animal sperm additionally contain significant amounts of ether lipids such as alkylacyl-
and alkenyl-acyl lipids (plasmalogens).
Hypothesis/Objective:
It is suggested that deviations from the typical lipid composition are indicative
of pathological changes. Therefore, simple methods to elucidate the sperm lipid composition are essential.
Method:
Matrix-assisted laser desorption and ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry (MS) is a fast
and simple method. Since the selection of the most suitable matrix is a crucial step in MALDI MS,
this topic will be highlighted. It will also be shown that MALDI MS can be easily combined with
thin-layer chromatography to overcome ion suppression effects.
Results:
The lipid composition of sperm from different species can be elucidated by MALDI MS.
However, different matrix compounds have to be used to record positive and negative ion mass spectra.
Since some sperm (glyco)lipids are characterized by the presence of sulfate residues which suppress
the detection of less acidic lipids in the negative ion mode, previous separation is often necessary.
It will be also emphasized that plasmalogens can be easily identified by either enzymatic digestion
or treatment with acids.
Conclusion:
MALDI MS is a reliable method to obtain sperm lipid fingerprints in a simple and convenient
way.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kathrin M. Engel
- Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Medical Physics and Biophysics, University of Leipzig, Härtelstr. 16-18, D-04107 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Ulrike Jakop
- Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Alfred-Kowalke-Str. 17, D-10315 Berlin, Germany
| | - Karin Müller
- Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Alfred-Kowalke-Str. 17, D-10315 Berlin, Germany
| | - Sonja Grunewald
- Dermatology, Venerology and Allergology Clinic, Andrological Unit, University Hospital Leipzig, Philipp-Rosenthal- Straße 23, D-04103, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Uwe Paasch
- Dermatology, Venerology and Allergology Clinic, Andrological Unit, University Hospital Leipzig, Philipp-Rosenthal- Straße 23, D-04103, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Jürgen Schiller
- Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Medical Physics and Biophysics, University of Leipzig, Härtelstr. 16-18, D-04107 Leipzig, Germany
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Anfuso CD, Olivieri M, Bellanca S, Salmeri M, Motta C, Scalia M, Satriano C, La Vignera S, Burrello N, Caporarello N, Lupo G, Calogero AE. Asthenozoospermia and membrane remodeling enzymes: a new role for phospholipase A2. Andrology 2015; 3:1173-82. [PMID: 26446356 DOI: 10.1111/andr.12101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2015] [Revised: 07/14/2015] [Accepted: 08/01/2015] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
Phosholipase A2 (PLA2 ) activity in the seminal plasma and in sperm heads is closely related to sperm motility and male fertility. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the possible involvement of different isoforms of phospholipase in asthenozoospermia. To accomplish this, cPLA2 , phospho-cPLA2 , iPLA2 , and sPLA2 were evaluated by immunofluorescence and immunoblot analyses in spermatozoa obtained from 22 normozoospermic men and 28 asthenozoospermic patients. We found significant differences in cPLA2 and its phosphorylated/activated form, iPLA2 , and sPLA2 content and distribution in normal and asthenozoospermic patients. cPLA2 was localized in heads, midpieces, and tails of all spermatozoa as constitutive enzyme, less expressed in the tail of spermatozoa with low progressive motility. While active phospho-cPLA2 distribution was homogeneous throughout the cell body of control-donor spermatozoa, lower levels were detected in the tails of asthenozoospermic patients, as opposed to its strong presence in heads. Low immunofluorescence signal for iPLA2 was found in astenozoospermic patients, whereas sPLA2 was significantly lower in the heads of asthenozoospermic patients. Spermatozoa with low progressive motility showed differences both in terms of total specific activity and of intracellular distribution. cPLA2 , iPLA2 , and sPLA2 specific activities correlated positively and in a significantly manner with sperm progressive motility both in normozoospermic men and asthenozoospermic patients. In conclusion, PLA2 s are expressed in different areas of human spermatozoa. Spermatozoa with low motility showed differences in total specific activity and enzyme distributions. We speculated that PLA2 expression and/or different distribution could be potential biomarkers of asthenozoospermia, one of the major causes of male factor infertility.
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Affiliation(s)
- C D Anfuso
- Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
| | - M Olivieri
- Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
| | - S Bellanca
- Department of General Surgery and Medical-Surgical Specialties, School of Medicine, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
| | - M Salmeri
- Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
| | - C Motta
- Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
| | - M Scalia
- Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
| | - C Satriano
- Department of Chemical Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
| | - S La Vignera
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
| | - N Burrello
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
| | - N Caporarello
- Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
| | - G Lupo
- Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
| | - A E Calogero
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
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Pretreating porcine sperm with lipase enhances developmental competence of embryos produced by intracytoplasmic sperm injection. ZYGOTE 2015; 24:594-602. [DOI: 10.1017/s096719941500057x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
SummaryIntracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) has been widely applied in humans, mice, and some domestic animals to cure human infertility, or produce genetically superior or genetically engineered animals. However, the production efficiency of ICSI in pigs remains quite low. In this study, we developed a new sperm pretreatment method to improve production efficiency of ICSI in pigs. Experiment 1 revealed that pretreating porcine sperm with 2.5 mg/ml lipase before ICSI operation, not only can reduce the adhesion between sperm and the injection pipette without adding polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) in the operating medium, but also significantly improve male pronuclei (MPN) formation rate (55.56% vs. 40.00% (0 mg/ml), 42.59% (5.0 mg/ml), 40.00% (10.0 mg/ml), P < 0.05) and enhance developmental competence of ICSI embryos (26.03% vs. 10.87% (0 mg/ml), 10.00% (5.0 mg/ml), 10.13% (10.0 mg/ml), P < 0.05). Experiment 2 showed that this method has a higher MPN formation rate (50.47% vs. 30.78%, P < 0.05) and blastocyst rate (18.81% vs. 7.41%, P < 0.05) than the PVP method, and was better than the Triton X-100 treatment method (50.47% vs. 46.23%, 18.81% vs. 12.75%). Therefore, pretreating porcine sperm with 2.5 mg/ml lipase before ICSI operation is highly recommended, instead of adding PVP in the operating medium.
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Xiao Y, Zhang H, Ahmad S, Bai L, Wang X, Huo L, Zhang X, Li W, Li X, Yang L. Sperm capacitation combined with removal of the sperm acrosome and plasma membrane enhances paternal nucleus remodelling and early development of bovine androgenetic embryos. Reprod Fertil Dev 2013; 25:624-38. [DOI: 10.1071/rd12075] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2012] [Accepted: 05/17/2012] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
The androgenetic embryo is a useful model for functional analysis of the paternal genome during embryogenesis. However, few studies have focused on the factors involved in the suppressed developmental competence of such embryos or why sperm cloning-derived androgenetic embryos fail to develop beyond the morula stage in large domestic animals. To overcome this developmental failure, we tried to improve sperm decondensation, as well as to enhance embryonic development by sperm capacitation and removal of the acrosome and plasma membrane before injection of the spermatozoa. Before injection of the spermatozoa, we quantified the effects of sperm capacitation combined with sperm pretreatment on the acrosome and plasma membrane status. We also evaluated sperm decondensation potential, sperm viability and chromatin integrity. Immunostaining data showed that the sperm acrosome and plasma membrane could be more efficiently removed after capacitation. Dithiothreitol-induced sperm decondensation potential was improved with capacitation and removal of the acrosome and plasma membrane. Although most spermatozoa lost viability after pretreatment, their chromatin remained integrated. The patterns of paternal chromatin remodelling within uncleaved androgenetic embryos and the nucleus morphology of cleaved embryos indicated that capacitation combined with membrane disruption could make injected spermatozoa decondense synchronously not only with each other, but also with the developmental pace of the ooplasm. We successfully produced androgenetic blastocysts, and efficiency increased with sperm pretreatment. In conclusion, sperm decondensation and the early development of androgenetic embryos were enhanced with sperm capacitation and removal of the acrosome and plasma membrane prior to sperm injection.
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Vanden Meerschaut F, Leybaert L, Nikiforaki D, Qian C, Heindryckx B, De Sutter P. Diagnostic and prognostic value of calcium oscillatory pattern analysis for patients with ICSI fertilization failure. Hum Reprod 2012; 28:87-98. [DOI: 10.1093/humrep/des368] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
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Leßig J, Reibetanz U, Arnhold J, Glander HJ. Destabilization of acrosome and elastase influence mediate the release of secretory phospholipase A2from human spermatozoa. Asian J Androl 2008; 10:829-36. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1745-7262.2008.00440.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
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Yan W, Morozumi K, Zhang J, Ro S, Park C, Yanagimachi R. Birth of mice after intracytoplasmic injection of single purified sperm nuclei and detection of messenger RNAs and MicroRNAs in the sperm nuclei. Biol Reprod 2008; 78:896-902. [PMID: 18256326 DOI: 10.1095/biolreprod.107.067033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 67] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/01/2022] Open
Abstract
We have developed a method that effectively removes all of the perinuclear materials of a mouse sperm head, including the acrosome, plasma membrane, perinuclear theca, and nuclear envelope. By injection of a single purified sperm head into a metaphase II mouse oocyte followed by activation with strontium chloride, 93% of the zygotes developed into two-cell embryos. Although only approximately 17% of the transferred two-cell embryos were born alive, all live pups developed into adults, and they appeared to be normal in reproduction and behavior. We detected RNA species, including mRNAs and miRNAs from the purified sperm heads. Our data demonstrate that pure membrane-free sperm heads are sufficient to produce normal offspring through intracytoplasmic sperm injection and that at least part of the RNA molecules are deeply embedded in the sperm nucleus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wei Yan
- Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, University of Nevada School of Medicine, Reno, Nevada 89557, USA.
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Morozumi K, Shikano T, Miyazaki S, Yanagimachi R. Simultaneous removal of sperm plasma membrane and acrosome before intracytoplasmic sperm injection improves oocyte activation/embryonic development. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2006; 103:17661-6. [PMID: 17090673 PMCID: PMC1693803 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0608183103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 89] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Direct injection of a single spermatozoon into an oocyte (ICSI) can produce apparently normal offspring. Although the production of normal offspring by ICSI has been successful in mice and humans, it has been less successful in many other species. The reason for this is not clear, but could be, in part, due to inconsistent activation of oocytes because of delayed disintegration of sperm plasma membrane within oocytes and incorporation of the acrosome containing a spectrum of hydrolyzing enzymes. In the mouse, the removal of sperm plasma membrane and acrosome was not a prerequisite to produce offspring by ICSI, but it resulted in earlier onset of oocyte activation and better embryonic development. The best result was obtained when spermatozoa were demembranated individually immediately before ICSI by using lysolecithin, a hydrolysis product of membrane phospholipids.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kazuto Morozumi
- *Institute for Biogenesis Research, University of Hawaii School of Medicine, Honolulu, HI 96822; and
| | - Tomohide Shikano
- Department of Physiology, Tokyo Women's Medical University School of Medicine, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8666, Japan
| | - Shunichi Miyazaki
- Department of Physiology, Tokyo Women's Medical University School of Medicine, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8666, Japan
| | - Ryuzo Yanagimachi
- *Institute for Biogenesis Research, University of Hawaii School of Medicine, Honolulu, HI 96822; and
- To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
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