Identify Causes of Male Infertility and Provide Targets for Developing New Contraceptive Agents

There was an article published in Journal of Clinical Investigation observing new requirements for male fertility. An article was based in two independent groups of researchers who were identifying 2 proteins known as PLA2s which are very important proteins in the mice sperm functioning. The data that was researched in a study could identify causes of male infertility and thus provide possible goals for developing new contraceptive agents.

Additionally this data could contribute to the new approaches in treating infertility. Moreover, data does emphasis a special attention for drugs that target members of this closely related group of proteins to treat inflammation and atherosclerosis. One study was conducted by Japanese researchers at The Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, who were supervised by Makoto Murakami. Their findings suggest that family of proteins sPLA2-III was expressed in a region of the testicles known as the proximal epididymal epithelium. Mice that were lacking proteins sPLA2-III had problems with fertility because their sperm didn't mature properly. In addition they had problems with sperm motility and ability to fertilize eggs in vitro.

Another study was conducted by French scientists at Grenoble Institute of Neuroscience and led by Christophe Arnoult. Their findings suggest that in mice that group X secreted PLA2 (knowne as mGX) was a predominant constituent of a compartment in sperm known as the acrosome which has an important role in breaking down the coat that surrounds an egg so that the sperm can elicit fertilization. For this reason male mice who had insufficient mGX made smaller litters than the mice with normal levels of mGX, and mice with deficient levels of mGX were not able to fertilize eggs in vitro. Moreover, molecules that inhibited mGX and molecules that more broadly inhibited secreted PLA2s each reduced the efficiency of in vitro fertilization. However, if the presence of additional mGX was increased, so was the efficiency of IVF.