Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Reproduction
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2024.1432612
This article is part of the Research Topic Male Reproduction and Oxidative Stress, Volume II View all 3 articles

The metabolomics changes in epididymal lumen fluid of CABS1 deficient male mice potentially contribute to sperm deformity

Provisionally accepted
Xiuling Zhao Xiuling Zhao 1,2Junyu Nie Junyu Nie 2Xiuling Zhao Xiuling Zhao 2Xuhui Zeng Xuhui Zeng 2Xiaoli Sun Xiaoli Sun 3*
  • 1 Nantong University, Nantong, China
  • 2 Nantong university, Nantong, China
  • 3 Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, Jiangsu Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Epididymal lumen fluids provides a stable microenvironment for sperm maturation. Ca2+ binding protein CABS1 is known to maintain structural integrity of mouse sperm flagella during epididymal transit of sperm. Besides, CABS1 was reported to contain anti-inflammatory peptide sequences and be present in both human saliva and plasma. However, little is known about the role of CABS1 in regulation of the microenvironment of epididymal lumen fluids. To further confirm the role of CABS1 in epididymis, we identified the expression of CABS1 in epididymal lumen fluids. Moreover, high performance liquid chromatography, coupled with tandem mass spectrometry technique was used to analyze the metabolic profiles and in vivo microperfusion of the cauda epididymis and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) assays was used to detect the concentration of metal ion of mouse cauda epididymal lumen fluids in CABS1 deficient and normal mice. The results showed that CABS1 is present in epididymal lumen fluids, and the concentration of calcium in epididymal lumen fluids is not changed in Cabs1-/- male mice. Among 34 differential metabolites identified in cauda epididymis, 21 were significantly upregulated while 13 were significantly downregulated in KO cauda epididymis. Pathway analysis identified pyrimidine metabolism, inositol phosphate metabolism, arachidonic acid metabolism, purine metabolism and histidine metabolism as relevant pathways in cauda epididymis. The perturbations of mitochondrial dysfunction and inflammation may be the crucial reason for the poor performance of Cabs1-/- sperm.

    Keywords: CABS1, Epididymal lumen fluid, Metabolomics, Sperm Maturation, LC-MS

    Received: 14 May 2024; Accepted: 30 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zhao, Nie, Zhao, Zeng and Sun. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Xiaoli Sun, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, 226001, Jiangsu Province, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.