INVESTIGADORES
WEIGEL MUÑOZ Mariana
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
A new role for CRISP1 in the fertilization process
Autor/es:
ERNESTO JI; CALB D; WEIGEL MUÑOZ M; COHEN DJ; CUASNICU PS
Reunión:
Congreso; 36th Annual Meeting of American Society of Andrology; 2011
Resumen:
Epididymal
protein CRISP1 is the first described member of family reported to be present
mainly in the male reproductive tract. Evidence from our group, obtained using
in vitro fertilization assays and knock out mice generated in our laboratory,
support the participation of CRISP1 in sperm capacitation as well as in sperm
interaction with both the zona pellucida (ZP) and the oolema. In the present work, the CRISP1 knock out (KO)
mice were used to investigate the presence of the protein in the female
reproductive tract and its potential role in the fertilization process. Rt-PCR
analysis revealed the presence of CRISP1 mRNA in the uterus, ovary, oviduct,
and cumulus cells of wild type (WT) but not KO mice. Western blot (Wb) and
indiirect immunofluorescence studies using a specific polyclonal anti-CRISP1
antibody confirmed the presence of the protein only in the tissues and cumulus
cells from WT females. In view of these observations, we evaluated the possible
participation of female CRISP1 in fertilization by in vitro fertilization
assays performed using cumuls-oocyte complexes (COCs) and sperm from WT and KO
mice. Results showed that when WT sperm were used for insemination,
significantly lower levels of fertilization were observed for KO than for WT COC.
This decrease was even more evident when KO COCs were exposed to KO instead
than to WT sperm. Together, these results confirm the existence of CRISP1 in
the female reproductive tract and support the existence of a new role for
CRISP1 in the fertilization process.