The Comparison of α -Tubulin Protein Expression in Normospermic and Oligoasthenoteratospermia Semen Samples

Background: The centrosome is considered to be the microtu-bule organizing center and composed meshwork of proteins in-cluding α-tubulin. Sperm centrosome is located in the midpiece of the tail. It is believed that α-tubulin protein levels have been disturbed in oligoasthenoteratospermi. Hence this study was carried out to evaluate α-tubulin protein in normozoospermic and ligoasthenoteratospermic semen samples.Materials and Methods: The semen samples were collected from 20 normozoospermic and 20 ligoasthenoteratospermic men who underwent seminal fluid evaluation at the Royan In-stitute. The conventional sperm parameters were assessed by computer-assisted sperm analyzer. The expression of α –tubulin protein were analyzed by Western Blotting. All values were ex-pressed as mean ± SD.Results: The levels of α -tubulin are markedly lower in oligoas-thenoteratospermic samples (0.59 ± 0.14) as compared to the normozoospermic samples (0.84 ± 0.32).Conclusion: Lower α -tubulin protein expression in sperm of infertile males may be a possible cause for their reduced ferti-lization ability. Further studies on centrosomal protein are re-quired to design rational approaches for the diagnosis and treat-ment of male infertility.

کلیدواژه ها:

Centrosome ، α –Tubulin ، Oligoasthenoteratospermia