Antigen unmasking does not improve the visualization of phospholipase C zeta in human spermatozoa  

作　　者：Xin Meng Celine Jones Pedro Melo Caroline Ross Ginny Mounce Tim Child Kevin Coward 

机构地区：[1]Nuffield Department of Women's and Reproductive Health,University of Oxford,Oxford OX39DU,UK [2]The Women's Centre,Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust,Oxford OX39DU,UK [3]xford Fertility,Oxford Business Park North,Oxford OX42HW,UK.

出　　处：《Asian Journal of Andrology》2022年第4期345-352,共8页亚洲男性学杂志（英文版）

摘　　要：Phospholipase C zeta(PLCζ)is a sperm-specific protein that triggers oocyte activation.The analysis of PLCζexpression in human spermatozoa can be used as a diagnostic marker for oocyte activation deficiency.Our laboratory has previously optimized a standard"in-house"assay to determine PLCζexpression in human spermatozoa.However,one study has suggested that an antigen unmasking method(AUM)would be more efficient in visualizing PLCζin human sperm.This study aimed to compare our established assay and AUM(involving HCl,acidic Tyrode's solution[AT],and heat).The mean relative fluorescence(RF)intensity of PLCζin frozen-thawed spermatozoa from fourteen fertile donors stained with the in-house method was significantly higher than three other AUM groups(in-house[mean±standard error of mean]:18.87±2.39 arbitrary units[a.u.]vs non-AUM:11.44±1.61 a.u.,AT-AUM:12.38±1.89 a.u.,and HCl-AUM:12.51±2.16 a.u.,P<0.05,one-way analysis of variance).The mean RF intensity of PLCζin AT-and HCl-treated spermatozoa from 12 infertile males was not significantly different from that of the non-AUM group.However,the in-house method resulted in the highest RF intensity(12.11±1.36 a.u.,P<0.01).Furthermore,specificity testing of antibody-antigen binding indicated that the in-house method showed more specific binding than spermatozoa treated by the AUM.In conclusion,our in-house method showed superior visualization and reliability than the AUM,thus supporting the continued use of our in-house assay for clinical research screening.

关 键 词：antigen unmasking immunofluorescence staining male infertility phospholipase C zeta 

分 类 号：R697[医药卫生—泌尿科学]