Evidence for the involvement of NGF in human sperm motility

Cui-Ge Shi, Kai Lin, Xiang-Bo Xu, Shu-Cheng Zhang, Ning Wang, Ming Fan

Clinic Laboratory Center, Air Force General Hospital, Beijing, China.
Department of Brain Protection and Plasticity, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.
Department of Cell Biology, National Research Institute of Family Planning, Beijing, China.

DOI: 10.4236/jbise.2012.59066                

Abstract

Motility is an important physiological characteristic of a mature sperm. Nerve growth factor (NGF) is a key protein for the survival, maintenance and development of the central and peripheral nervous systems. It has been shown that NGF and its receptors TrkA and p75 are widely expressed in the testis, accessory reproductive organ, and the epididymal sperms. These observation have shifted the attention to the role of NGF on male reproductive physiology. In the present study, we found that NGF remarkably increased testicular coefficient in rats subjected to unpredictable chronic mild stress. Furthermore, we investigated the role of NGF on human sperm motility in vitro by CASA. The results showed that the parameters of sperm motility after NGF treatment had significantly increased, the means of VAP, VSL, VCL, BCF and LIN were significantly increased 32% than those of NGF absence, the means of MAD, STR, ALH and WOB had no notable difference. In addition, NGF promotes the sperm motility in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Taken together, our findings suggest that NGF plays a promoted role in sperm motility.

Keywords

NGF; Fertility; Testis; Sperm Motility

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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