PARTICIPATION OF FEMALE REPRODUCTIVE TRACT CRISP1 IN THE FERTILIZATION PROCESS

ERNESTO JI; CALB D; WEIGEL MUÑOZ M; COHEN DJ; CUASNICU PS

Buenos Aires

Jornada; XII Jornadas Multidisciplinarias de la Sociedad Argentina de Biología (SAB); 2010

Sociedad Argentina de Biología (SAB)

PARTICIPATION OF FEMALE REPRODUCTIVE TRACTCRISP1 IN THE FERTILIZATION PROCESSErnesto JI, Calb D, Weigel Muñoz M, Cohen DJ, Cuasnicu PS.IBYME-CONICET, Argentina. E-mail: ernesto@dna.uba.arRecent results from our laboratory indicate that epididymal CRISP1protein is present in the rat female reproductive tract. Consideringthe participation of sperm CRISP1 in different stages of fertilization,in the present work we investigated the involvement of femalereproductive tract CRISP1 in the mouse fertilization process.The presence of CRISP1 mRNA was analyzed in the uterus, oviduct,ovary, and cumulus cells by rt-PCR. Protein expression studiesby Western blot (Wb) using a specific anti-CRISP1 antibody,indicated the presence of CRISP1 mRNA in the three tissues. Indirectimmunofluorescence of cumulus treated with hyaluronidaserevealed the presence of CRISP1 in the follicular cells. In view ofthese observations, we evaluated the possible participation of cumulusCRISP1 in fertilization by in vitro fertilization assays usingcumuls-oocyte complex from CRISP1 knock out mice (KO) generatedin our laboratory. Results showed a significant decrease inthe percentage of fertilized eggs compared to controls. Together,these results confirm the existence of CRISP1 in the female reproductivetract as well as the participation of cumulus CRISP1 in thefertilization process.