Author/Authors :
azad, nahid shahid beheshti university of medical sciences - school of medicine - department of biology and anatomical sciences, Tehran, Iran , nazarian, hamid shahid beheshti university of medical sciences - school of medicine - department of biology and anatomical sciences, Tehran, Iran , nazari, leila shahid beheshti university of medical sciences - preventative gynecology research center - department of obstetrics and gynecology, Tehran, Iran , ghaffari novin, marefat shahid beheshti university of medical sciences - cellular and molecular biology research center, Tehran, Iran , piryaei, abbas shahid beheshti university of medical sciences - school of medicine, urogenital stem cell research center - department of biology and anatomical sciences, Tehran, Iran , heidari, mohammad hassan shahid beheshti university of medical sciences - school of medicine - department of biology and anatomical sciences, Tehran, Iran , masteri farahani, reza shahid beheshti university of medical sciences - school of medicine - department of biology and anatomical sciences, Tehran, Iran , sadjadpour, susan university of tehran - school of biology, college of science - department of cell and molecular biology, Tehran, iran
Abstract :
Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate postacrosomal sheet WW domain binding protein (PAWP) and phospholipase C ζ (PLCζ) protein expression in patients with fertilization failure. Materials and Methods: Semen samples were collected from 15 fertile men (control group) and 15 patients with previous fertilization failure following ICSI (FF group) and were analyzed according to World Health Organization (WHO) criteria. The mean percentages of PAWP and PLCζ positive sperm and the total level of PAWP and PLCζ proteins were assessed using immunofluorescence staining. Results: A significantly lower level and lower percentage of PAWP positive sperm in patients with fertilization failure was found compared to the control group (P = 0.01 and P = 0.03, respectively). The mean percentage of PLCζ positive sperm and level of PLCζ protein were significantly lower in FF group compared to the control group (P = 0.0003 and P = 0.04, respectively). Significant positive correlations was observed between PAWP and PLCζ positive sperms (r = 0.4, P = 0.008) and also total level of expression of PLCζ and PAWP proteins (r = 0.4, P = 0.02) in all participants in the study. Conclusion: This is the first study that evaluates two main candidates for sperm-borne oocyte activating factors (SOAFs) simultaneously in patients with fertilization failure. Considering lower expression of PAWP and PLCζ proteins in such patients, it seems like both factors might have the potential to be considered as SOAFs and diagnostic markers for the oocyte activation ability.
Keywords :
fertilization failure , infertility , intra , cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) , phospholipase C ζ (PLCζ) , postacrosomal sheet WWI domain binding protein (PAWP)
