Despite the fact that the phenomenon of capacitation was discovered over half century ago and much progress has been made in identifying sperm events involved in capacitation, few specific molecules of epididymal orig...Despite the fact that the phenomenon of capacitation was discovered over half century ago and much progress has been made in identifying sperm events involved in capacitation, few specific molecules of epididymal origin have been identified as being directly involved in this process in vivo. Previously, our group cloned and characterized a carboxyl esterase gene CesSa in the rat epididymis. The CES5A protein is mainly expressed in the corpus and cauda epididymidis and secreted into the corresponding lumens. Here, we report the function of CESSA in sperm maturation. By local injection of Lentivirus-mediated siRNA in the CESSA.expressing region of the rat epididymis, CesSa-knockdown animal models were created. These animals exhibited an inhibited sperm capacitation and a reduction in male fertility. These results suggest that CESSA plays an important role in sperm maturation and male fertility.展开更多
文摘Despite the fact that the phenomenon of capacitation was discovered over half century ago and much progress has been made in identifying sperm events involved in capacitation, few specific molecules of epididymal origin have been identified as being directly involved in this process in vivo. Previously, our group cloned and characterized a carboxyl esterase gene CesSa in the rat epididymis. The CES5A protein is mainly expressed in the corpus and cauda epididymidis and secreted into the corresponding lumens. Here, we report the function of CESSA in sperm maturation. By local injection of Lentivirus-mediated siRNA in the CESSA.expressing region of the rat epididymis, CesSa-knockdown animal models were created. These animals exhibited an inhibited sperm capacitation and a reduction in male fertility. These results suggest that CESSA plays an important role in sperm maturation and male fertility.
