TITLE:
Evidence for the involvement of NGF in human sperm motility
AUTHORS:
Cui-Ge Shi, Kai Lin, Xiang-Bo Xu, Shu-Cheng Zhang, Ning Wang, Ming Fan
KEYWORDS:
NGF; Fertility; Testis; Sperm Motility
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Biomedical Science and Engineering,
Vol.5 No.9,
September
19,
2012
ABSTRACT: Motility is an important physiological characteristic of a mature sperm. Nerve growth factor (NGF) is a key protein for the survival, maintenance and development of the central and peripheral nervous systems. It has been shown that NGF and its receptors TrkA and p75 are widely expressed in the testis, accessory reproductive organ, and the epididymal sperms. These observation have shifted the attention to the role of NGF on male reproductive physiology. In the present study, we found that NGF remarkably increased testicular coefficient in rats subjected to unpredictable chronic mild stress. Furthermore, we investigated the role of NGF on human sperm motility in vitro by CASA. The results showed that the parameters of sperm motility after NGF treatment had significantly increased, the means of VAP, VSL, VCL, BCF and LIN were significantly increased 32% than those of NGF absence, the means of MAD, STR, ALH and WOB had no notable difference. In addition, NGF promotes the sperm motility in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Taken together, our findings suggest that NGF plays a promoted role in sperm motility.