Relevance of CRISP proteins for epididymal physiology, fertilization and fertility

BRUKMAN, NICOLÁS G.; LUSTIG, LIVIA; CARVAJAL, GUILLERMO; BATTISTONE, MARÍA A.; CUASNICÚ, PATRICIA S.; WEIGEL MUÑOZ, MARIANA; BRETON, SYLVIE

Seminario; Gordon Research Seminars Fertilization & Activation of Development; 2017

Epididymal proteins CRISP1 and CRISP4 associate with sperm during maturation and participate in different stages of the fertilization process. Whereas both CRISP1 and CRISP4 have the ability to regulate TRPM8 calcium channels, recent evidence revealed that CRISP1 is also capable of regulating CatSper, the principal sperm Ca2+ channel involved in hyperactivation and essential for male fertility. In spite of their critical roles for fertilization, the knockout (KO) mice for each of these molecules are fertile, suggesting compensatory mechanisms between the two proteins. To address this question, we generated CRISP1/CRISP4 double KO (DKO) mice and examined their phenotype. DKO males exhibited severe defects in fertility (p*