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Ion channel gene expressions in infertile men: A case-control study
Carkci, Serkan; Etem, Ebru Onalan; Ozaydin, Seda; Karakeci, Ahmet; Tektemur, Ahmet; Ozan, Tunc & Orhan, Irfan
Abstract
Background: Infertility is described as not receiving pregnancy despite unprotected
and regular sexual intercourse in a 1 yr period. It is detected by 15% of the couples.
Male and female factor in the etiology may be detected in similar rates.
Objective: The present study aims to investigate ion channel gene expression in
semen samples of infertile male compared with fertile men.
Materials and Methods: A total of 150 men who applied to the urology clinic due
to infertility were divided into five equal groups: asthenozoospermia,
oligozoospermia, oligoasthenoteratozoospermia, teratozoospermia, and
normozoospermia (control). All paticipants were evaluated with Cation Channel
Spermia (CatSper) 1, 2, 3, 4, Proton Voltage Gated Ion Channel1 (Hv1), Potassium
Channel Subfamily U1 (KCNU1), and transmembrane protein (TMEM16A) gene
expression in semen samples.
Results: “CatSper1, 4, HV1, KCNU1, and TMEM16A gene expression were
detected higher in the oligozoospermia group compared to the controls. CatSper1, 2,
3, 4, KCNU1, and TMEM16A gene expression in the asthenozoospermia group and
CatSper1, 2, 3, 4, KCNU1, and TMEM16A gene expression in the teratozoospermia
group were detected lower compared to the controls. CatSper1, 4, HV1, and
TMEM16A gen expression were higher in the oligoasthenoteratozoospermia men
than the controls while CatSper3 gen expression was detected as lower.”
Conclusion: It was detected that these ion channels have an effect on sperm
progressive motility and morphology. It may be considered that mutations in these
ion channels may result in infertility.
Keywords
Infertility; Male; Genes; Ion channels; Sperm.
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