Erythropoietin receptor-like immunostaining on human spermatozoa

Tug, Niyazi; Kilic, Ulkan; Karateke, Ates; Yilmaz, Bayram; Ugur, Milas; Kilic, Ertugrul

doi:10.1016/j.rbmo.2010.05.022

« Previous Next »Reproductive BioMedicine Online
Volume 21, Issue 5 , Pages 718-720, November 2010

Erythropoietin receptor-like immunostaining on human spermatozoa

Received 22 March 2010; received in revised form 21 May 2010; accepted 26 May 2010. published online 02 August 2010.

Declaration: The authors report no financial or commercial conflicts of interest.

Abstract

This study aimed to demonstrate the presence of erythropoietin (EPO) receptor on spermatozoa. Whole ejaculates of four healthy volunteers were incubated with polyclonal rabbit anti-EPO receptor and subsequently stained with a Cy-3 labelled secondary antibody. Four slides per subject were analysed, no staining was observed in slides incubated with either primary or secondary antibody alone. EPO receptor staining was positive in 92±8% of EPO pre-treated and 91±4% of non-treated sperm cells. The results suggest that spermatozoa express EPO receptor on plasma membrane, which might act to protect these cells from damage after ejaculation.

Keywords: EPO, EPO-receptor, receptor, spermatozoa

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Niyazi Tug, MD is a graduate of Marmara University, Faculty of Medicine (1995)and served his residency at Firat University, Faculty of Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology Department (2002). His current position is gynaecologist in Zeynep Kamil Hospital.All of the authors equally contributed to this work.