Objective:To study the difference of facilitative glucose transporter 8 (GLUT8) expression in sperms among asthenozoospermia (AS) patients, teratozoospermia (TM) patients and normal reproductive men, thus to investigate the correlation between the expression of GLUT8 and sperm motility.Methods:The sperm motility parameters of each group were detected by computer-assisted semen analysis system (CASA). A case-control study method was used to collect semen from patients with AS, TM and normal reproductive men who underwent routine semen examination in the Andrology Laboratory, Department of Reproductive Medicine, the Affiliated Taizhou People's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from December 2019 to December 2020. The semen of AS patients (41 samples), normal viable spermatozoa (NV) patients (41 samples), TM patients (40 samples) and normal morphology spermatozoa (NM) patients (40 samples) were collected and selected into AS group, NV group, TM group and NM group according to the criteria of enrollment. Western blotting was used to assess the expression of GLUT8 protein in NV group, AS group, NM group and TM group, with 7 cases in each group. The differences of sperm parameters and GLUT8 protein between NV group and AS group, NM group and TM group were compared.Results:Sperm parameters of NV group and AS group were significantly different in progressive rate (62.64%±37.14%, 14.41%±11.89%, P<0.001), motility rate (55.62%±12.31%, 24.40%±12.75%, P<0.001), curvilinear velocity [(87.22±12.35) μm/s, (71.75±18.35) μm/s, P<0.001], the straight line velocity [(40.22±6.71) μm/s, (33.31±10.11) μm/s, P<0.001], average path velocity [(47.66±6.49) μm/s, (39.42±10.25) μm/s, P<0.001], and amplitude of lateral head displacement [(2.88±0.49) μm, (2.35±0.66) μm, P<0.001], and there were no significant differences in sperm parameters between NM group and TM group (all P>0.05). The relative expression of GLUT8 protein in AS group (0.26±0.17) was significantly lower than that in NV group (2.00±0.38, P=0.002), but there was no significant difference in GLUT8 protein expression in NM group and TM group ( P>0.05). Conclusion:GLUT8 protein expression in sperm decreased in AS, but there was no significant correlation between GLUT8 protein expression and sperm morphology.

Objective:To study the difference of facilitative glucose transporter 8 (GLUT8) expression in sperms among asthenozoospermia (AS) patients, teratozoospermia (TM) patients and normal reproductive men, thus to investigate the correlation between the expression of GLUT8 and sperm motility.Methods:The sperm motility parameters of each group were detected by computer-assisted semen analysis system (CASA). A case-control study method was used to collect semen from patients with AS, TM and normal reproductive men who underwent routine semen examination in the Andrology Laboratory, Department of Reproductive Medicine, the Affiliated Taizhou People's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from December 2019 to December 2020. The semen of AS patients (41 samples), normal viable spermatozoa (NV) patients (41 samples), TM patients (40 samples) and normal morphology spermatozoa (NM) patients (40 samples) were collected and selected into AS group, NV group, TM group and NM group according to the criteria of enrollment. Western blotting was used to assess the expression of GLUT8 protein in NV group, AS group, NM group and TM group, with 7 cases in each group. The differences of sperm parameters and GLUT8 protein between NV group and AS group, NM group and TM group were compared.Results:Sperm parameters of NV group and AS group were significantly different in progressive rate (62.64%±37.14%, 14.41%±11.89%, P<0.001), motility rate (55.62%±12.31%, 24.40%±12.75%, P<0.001), curvilinear velocity [(87.22±12.35) μm/s, (71.75±18.35) μm/s, P<0.001], the straight line velocity [(40.22±6.71) μm/s, (33.31±10.11) μm/s, P<0.001], average path velocity [(47.66±6.49) μm/s, (39.42±10.25) μm/s, P<0.001], and amplitude of lateral head displacement [(2.88±0.49) μm, (2.35±0.66) μm, P<0.001], and there were no significant differences in sperm parameters between NM group and TM group (all P>0.05). The relative expression of GLUT8 protein in AS group (0.26±0.17) was significantly lower than that in NV group (2.00±0.38, P=0.002), but there was no significant difference in GLUT8 protein expression in NM group and TM group ( P>0.05). Conclusion:GLUT8 protein expression in sperm decreased in AS, but there was no significant correlation between GLUT8 protein expression and sperm morphology.

Insufficient epigenetic reprogramming of donor nuclei is believed to be one of the most important causes of low development efficiency of mammalian somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Previous studies have shown that both the in vitro and in vivo development of mouse SCNT embryos could be increased significantly by treatment with various histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi), including Trichostatin A, Scriptaid, and m-carboxycinnamic acid bishydroxamide (CBHA), in which only the effect of CBHA has not yet been tested in other species. In this paper we examine the effect of CBHA treatment on the development of porcine SCNT embryos. We have discovered the optimum dosage and time for CBHA treatment: incubating SCNT embryos with 2 μmol/L CBHA for 24 h after activation could increase the blastocyst rate from 12.7% to 26.5%. Immunofluorescence results showed that the level of acetylation at histone 3 lysine 9 (AcH3K9), acetylation at histone 3 lysine 18 (AcH3K18), and acetylation at histone 4 lysine 16 (AcH4K16) was raised after CBHA treatment. Meanwhile, CBHA treatment improved the expression of development relating genes such as pou5f1, cdx2, and the imprinted genes like igf2. Despite these promising in vitro results and histone reprogramming, the full term development was not significantly increased after treatment. In conclusion, CBHA improves the in vitro development of pig SCNT embryos, increases the global histone acetylation and corrects the expression of some developmentally important genes at early stages. As in mouse SCNT, we have shown that nuclear epigenetic reprogramming in pig early SCNT embryos can be modified by CBHA treatment.
Acetylation ; Animals ; Blastocyst ; cytology ; Cell Nucleus ; metabolism ; Cinnamates ; pharmacology ; Embryo, Mammalian ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Embryonic Development ; drug effects ; Epigenesis, Genetic ; Female ; Gene Expression ; Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors ; pharmacology ; Histones ; metabolism ; Homeodomain Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; In Vitro Techniques ; Insulin-Like Growth Factor II ; genetics ; metabolism ; Nuclear Transfer Techniques ; Octamer Transcription Factor-3 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Swine