TY - JOUR
T1 - Expression and possible role of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor ε subunit (Achre) in mouse sperm
AU - Makino, Yusei
AU - Hiradate, Yuuki
AU - Umezu, Kohei
AU - Hara, Kenshiro
AU - Tanemura, Kentaro
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was funded by the Smoking Research Foundation (grant No. FP01902047), and Support Program for Interdisciplinary Research by Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary sciences, Tohoku University (K.T.).We thank Amaritpal Kaur for editing.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/1
Y1 - 2021/1
N2 - The nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) is one of the receptors of acetylcholine (ACh), and nicotine (NIC) acts as an agonist of this receptor. Among the nAChR subunits, we found that the ε subunit (AChRe) had approximately 10 to 1000 times higher level of mRNA expression in mouse testes than the other subunits. In this study, we aimed to elucidate the expression and localization of AChRe in the testes and spermatozoa of mice and clarify the effect of AChRe on sperm function. Immunocytochemistry showed that AChRe was expressed in the murine testes and spermatozoa. We found that AChRe was localized only in elongated spermatids from step 12 onwards in the testes. In spermatozoa, AChRe was localized in the head, especially in the anterior region of the acrosome, but only approximately 50% of spermatozoa showed this immunoreactivity. Additionally, we analyzed the effects of ACh and NIC on sperm acrosome reaction (AR) and found that both ACh and NIC suppressed the AR rate, which was restored by an AChRe-specific antagonist. These results suggest that AChRe may be a regulator of mammalian sperm AR.
AB - The nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) is one of the receptors of acetylcholine (ACh), and nicotine (NIC) acts as an agonist of this receptor. Among the nAChR subunits, we found that the ε subunit (AChRe) had approximately 10 to 1000 times higher level of mRNA expression in mouse testes than the other subunits. In this study, we aimed to elucidate the expression and localization of AChRe in the testes and spermatozoa of mice and clarify the effect of AChRe on sperm function. Immunocytochemistry showed that AChRe was expressed in the murine testes and spermatozoa. We found that AChRe was localized only in elongated spermatids from step 12 onwards in the testes. In spermatozoa, AChRe was localized in the head, especially in the anterior region of the acrosome, but only approximately 50% of spermatozoa showed this immunoreactivity. Additionally, we analyzed the effects of ACh and NIC on sperm acrosome reaction (AR) and found that both ACh and NIC suppressed the AR rate, which was restored by an AChRe-specific antagonist. These results suggest that AChRe may be a regulator of mammalian sperm AR.
KW - Acetylcholine
KW - Mouse
KW - Nicotine
KW - Nicotinic acetylcholine receptor
KW - Sperm
KW - Sperm acrosome reaction
KW - Testis
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U2 - 10.3390/biology10010046
DO - 10.3390/biology10010046
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85099415363
SN - 2079-7737
VL - 10
SP - 1
EP - 15
JO - Biology
JF - Biology
IS - 1
M1 - 46
ER -