OBJECTIVETo investigate the expression of transient receptor potential melastatin (TRPM) and transient receptor potential vanilloid (TRPV) channel family genes in rat spermatogenic cells.

METHODSRat spermatogenic cells were isolated by a mechanical procedure and the total RNA was extracted using TRIzol reagent. TRPM and TRPV channel family genes were amplified by RT-PCR and the presence of the target genes was detected by agarose gel electrophoresis. The relative gene expression levels were measured by real-time quantitative RT-PCR.

RESULTSTRPV5, TRPM3, TRPM4 and TRPM7 mRNAs were expressed in rat spermatogenic cells, but TRPV1, TRPV2, TRPV3, TRPV4, TRPV6, TRPM1, TRPM2, TRPM5, TRPM6, TRPM7 and TRPM8 mRNAs were not detected. The relative expressions of TRPM and TRPV mRNA were determined by quantitative real-time RT-PCR. TRPM7 expression was the highest among all the TRPM subtypes in rat spermatogenic cells, at a level equivalent to (0.0430-/+0.0034)% of beta-actin expression. TRPM3 and TRPM4 were also highly expressed, but their expression levels were only approximately 56% and 63% of that of TRPM7, respectively. For the TRPV subfamily, only TRPV5 mRNA was abundantly expressed at the level of (0.0157-/+0.0029)% relative to that of beta-actin.

CONCLUSIONTRPV5, TRPM3, TRPM4 and TRPM7 mRNAs were coexpressed in spermatogenic cells in rats, among which TRPM4 and TRPM7 mRNA were expressed at high levels. TRPM4 and TRPM7 channels may be involved in the regulation of growth, differentiation and maturation of rat spermatogenic cells and are associated with the generation of the sperms.