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Seminal plasma HSPA2 mRNA content is associated with semen quality

  • Reproductive Physiology and Disease
  • Published:
Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Cell-free mRNAs (cfmRNAs) were quantitatively measured in human seminal plasma and its relationship with semen quality was investigated.

Methods

Herein, a prospectively, controlled investigation was performed to study seminal plasma HSPA2 and uPA cfmRNA alterations between 21 asthenozoospermic patients and 16 normozoospermic individuals. Standard semen analysis was performed and seminal plasma cfmRNAs content was measured by real-time quantitative PCR. In addition, the regression analysis between seminal plasma cfmRNAs expression and semen parameters was performed.

Results

Seminal plasma HSPA2, but not uPA cfmRNA indicated significant difference between normozoospermia and asthenozoospermia men (P = 0.02444 and 0.07811, respectively). Negative correlation between HSPA2 cfmRNA and sperm motility (R 2 = 0.213, P = 0.004) as well as sperm concentration (R 2 = 0.133, P = 0.026) were revealed. However, no correlation was found between seminal plasma uPA cfmRNA content and semen parameters.

Conclusions

Our data suggest that seminal plasma HSPA2 cfmRNA is different between asthenozoospermic and normozoospermic individuals and it might be an indicator for semen quality.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank their grant sponsors, the National Natural Science Foundation (grant nos. 30901493 and 81471495) and the National Key Technology Support Program (grant no. 2012BAI32B04).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Reproductive Medicine Center, Department of Reproductive Endocrinology, Women’s Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China, 310006

    Yonghong Tian, Lejun Li, Fengbin Zhang & Jian Xu

Authors
  1. Yonghong Tian
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  2. Lejun Li
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  3. Fengbin Zhang
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  4. Jian Xu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jian Xu.

Ethics declarations

This study received ethical approval from the Institutional Review Boards of our facility, and informed consent was obtained from all the participants included in this study.

Conflict of interest

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Additional information

Capsule

Our data suggest that seminal plasma HSPA2 cfmRNA is different between asthenozoospermic and normozoospermic individuals and it might be an indicator for semen quality.

Electronic supplementary material

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Fig S1

There was no correlation between seminal plasma uPA cfmRNA (log10 transformed) content and (a) sperm motility (Pearson correlation coefficient, R2=0.058 , P=0.149 ) and (b) sperm concentration (R2=0.009 , P=0.582 ). Solid line indicates the regression line while the two dotted curves depict the 95 % confidence limits (TIF 626 kb)

High Resolution Image (JPG 56 kb)

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Tian, Y., Li, L., Zhang, F. et al. Seminal plasma HSPA2 mRNA content is associated with semen quality. J Assist Reprod Genet 33, 1079–1084 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-016-0730-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-016-0730-4

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